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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/15185-8.txt b/15185-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c7f9a95 --- /dev/null +++ b/15185-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7142 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Quiet Talks on John's Gospel, by S. D. Gordon + +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: Quiet Talks on John's Gospel + +Author: S. D. Gordon + +Release Date: February 26, 2005 [EBook #15185] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUIET TALKS ON JOHN'S GOSPEL *** + + + + +Produced by Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + +Quiet Talks on _John's Gospel_ + +By + +S. D. Gordon + + + + +1915 + + + + +Preface + + + +_Everything depends on getting Jesus placed._ That lies at the root of +all--living, serving, preaching, teaching. John had Jesus placed. He had +Him up in His own place. This settles everything else. Then one gets +himself placed, too, up on a level where the air is clear and bracing, +the sun warm, and the outlook both steadying and stimulating. Get the +centre fixed and things quickly adjust themselves about it to your eyes. + +It will be seen very quickly that this little book makes no pretension +to being a commentary on, or an exposition of, John's Gospel. That is +left to the scholarly folk who eat their meals in the sacred classical +languages of the past. It is simply a homely attempt to let out a little +of what has been sifting in these years past of this wondrous miniature +Bible from John's pen. + +The proportions of this homely little messenger of paper and type may +seem a little odd at first. The longest chapter is devoted to only the +opening eighteen verses of John, the prologue. While the whole of the +first twelve chapters of John, excepting that prologue, is brought into +one smaller chapter. It wasn't planned so, though I felt it coming as +the wondrous mood of this book came down over me. I think it mast be +the effect of the atmosphere of John's book. + +Sometimes John packs so much in so little space, and again he goes so +particularly into the details of some one incident. The prologue is a +miniature Bible. The whole Bible story is there in its cream. And on the +other hand John spends five chapters (xiii.-xvii.), almost a fifth of +the whole, on a single evening. He devotes seven chapters (xiii.-xix.), +almost a third of all, on the events of twenty-four hours. John is +controlled not by mere proportion of space or quantity, but by the finer +proportions of thought and quality. + +It has been difficult to hold these homely talks down to the limit of +space they take here. So many veins of gold in this mine, showing +clearly large nuggets of pure ore, lie just at hand untouched in this +little mining venture. But it seemed clearly best to get the one clear +grasp of the whole. That helps so much. But there'll be strong +temptation to get one's pick and spade and go at this gold mine again. + +But now these things are written that we common folk may understand a +bit better, and in a warm way, that Jesus was God on a wooing errand to +the earth; and that we may join the blest company of the won ones, and +become co-wooers with God of the others. + +S. D. G. + + + + +Contents + + + +I. John's Story + +II. The Wooing Lover + + Who it was that came. + +III. The Lover Wooing + + A group of pictures illustrating how the wooing was done and how + the Lover was received. + +IV. Closer Wooing + + An evening with opening hearts: the story of a supper and a walk in + the moonlight and the shadows. + +V. The Greatest Wooing + + A night and a day with hardening hearts: the story of tender + passion and of a terrible tragedy. + +VI. An Appointed Tryst Unexpectedly Kept + + A day of startling joyous surprises. + +VII. Another Tryst + + A story of fishing, of guests at breakfast, and of a walk and talk + by the edge of blue Galilee. + + + + +I + +John's Story + + + + + "I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; + I fled Him, down the arches of the years; + I fled Him down the labyrinthine ways + Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears + I hid from Him, and under running laughter. + Up vistaed hopes, I sped; + And shot, precipitated, + Adown Titanic glooms of chasméd fears, + From those strong Feet that followed, followed after." + + --_Francis Thompson, in "The Hound of Heaven_." + +"These are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son +of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name."--_John xx. +31_. + + + + +I + +John's Story + + + +The Heart-strings of God. + + +There's a tense tugging at the heart of God. The heart-strings of God +are tight, as tight as tight can be. For there's a tender heart that's +easily tugged at one end, and an insistent tugging at the other. The +tugging never ceases. The strings never slack. They give no signs of +easing or getting loose. + +It's the tug of man's sore need at the down-end, the man-end, of the +strings. And it's the sore tug of grief over the way things are going on +down here with men, at the other end, the up-end, the heart-end, of the +strings. It's the tense pull-up of a love that grows stronger with the +growth of man's misunderstanding. + +But the heart-strings never snap. The heart itself breaks under the +tension of love and grief, grieved and grieving love. But the strings +only strengthen and tighten under the strain of use. + +Those heart-strings are a bit of the heart they're tied to, an inner +bit, aye the innermost bit, the inner heart of the heart. They are the +bit pulled, and pulled more, and pulled harder, till the strings grew. +Man was born in the warm heart of God. Was there ever such a womb! Was +there ever such another borning, homing place! + +It was man's going away that stretched the heart out till the strings +grew. The tragedy of sin revealed the toughness and tenderness of love. +For that heart never let go of the man whom it borned. Man tried to pull +away, poor thing. In his foolish misunderstanding and heady wilfulness +he tried to cut loose. If he had known God better he would never have +tried that. He'd never have _started_ away; and he'd never have tried to +_get_ away. + +For love never faileth. A heart--the real thing of a heart, that is, +God's heart--never lets go. It breaks; but let go? not once: never yet. +The breaking only loosens the red that glues fast with a tighter hold +than ever. The fibre of the heart--God's heart--is made of too strong +stuff to loosen or wear out or snap. Love never faileth. It can't; +because it's love. + +Now all this explains Jesus. It was man's pull on these heart-strings +that brought Him down. The pull was so strong and steady. It grew tenser +and more insistent. And straight down He came by the shortest way, the +way of those same heart-strings. For the heart-strings of God are the +shortest distance between two given points, the point of God's giving, +going love, and the point of man's sore need, given a sharper-pointed +end by its very soreness. + +It is a sort of blind pull, this pull of man on the heart of God; a +confused, unconscious, half-conscious, dust-blinded, slippery-road sort +of pulling, but one whose tight grip never slacks. Man needs God, but +does not know it. He knows he needs _some_thing. He feels that keenly. +But he does not know that it's God whom he needs, with a very few rare +exceptions. It doesn't seem to have entered his head that he'll never +get out of his tight corner till God gets him out. + +Down the street of life he goes, eyes blinded by the thick dust, ears +deafened by the cries of the crowd, by the noise of the street without, +and the noise of passions and fevered ambitions within, heart a-wearied +by the confusion of it all, groping, stumbling, jostled and jostling, +hitting this way and that, with the fever high in his blood, and his +feet aching and bleeding; sometimes the polish of culture on the +surface; _some_times rags and dirt; but underneath the same thing. + +Yet under all there's a vague but very real feeling of that unceasing +pull upward upon His heart-strings. But though blind and vague and +confused that tugging is never the less tense, but ever more, and then +yet more. + +Jesus was God answering the tug of man's need on His heart-strings. And +so naturally there was an answering feel in man's heart. Man felt the +answer a-coming. There was a great stir in the spirit-currents of earth +when Jesus came. A thrill of expectancy ran through the world, Roman, +Greek, Barbarian, far and wide, as Jesus drew near. The book-makers of +that time all speak of it. It was the vibration of those same +heart-strings connecting man and God. + +The move at God's end was felt at man's. The coming down along the +highway of the strings thrilled and stirred and awed the hearts into +which those strings led, and where they were so tightly knotted. The +earth-currents spread the news. Man heard; he felt; he knew: vaguely, +blindly, wearily, yet very really he heard and felt and recognized that +help, a Friend, some One, was nearing. + +And then when Jesus walked among men how He did pull upon their hearts! +So quietly He went about. So sympathetically He looked and listened. So +warm was the human touch of His hand. So strong was the lift of His arm +to ease their load. So potent was the spell of His unfailing power to +give relief. How He did pull! And how men did answer to that pull! +Unresistingly, eagerly, as weary child in mother's arms at close of day, +they came crowding to Him. + + + +The Fourfold Message. + + +It is fascinating to find one book in this old Book of God given up +wholly to telling of this, John's Gospel. Of course the whole of the +Book is really given up to it, when one gets the whole simple view of it +at one glance. But so many of us don't get that whole simple glance. + +So to make it easier for us simple common folk, and to make sure of our +getting it, there is one little book, hardly big enough to call a book, +just a few pages devoted wholly to letting us see this one thing. You +can see the whole of the sun in a single drop of water. You can see the +whole of the Book of God in this one little book that John wrote. + +John's Gospel is like the small tracing of the artist's pen on the +lower corner of an etching, the remarque, put there as a signature, the +artist's personal mark that the picture is genuine, the real thing. The +whole consummate skill of the artist is revealed at a glance in the +simple outline-tracing on the margin. The whole of the God-story in the +larger picture of the whole Book is given in few simple clear lines in +this exquisite little thing commonly called John's Gospel. + +It is striking to make the discovery that John's little book has _a +distinctive message as a book_. It is full of messages, of course. But I +mean that there is a distinct story told by the book as a whole, by the +very way it is put together. It is told by the very sort of language +used, the words chosen as the leading words of the book. It is told by +the picture that clearly fills John's eye as he writes, and by the very +spirit that floods the pages as a soft light, and that breaks out of +them as the subtle fragrance of locust blossoms in the spring. + +The fragrance of flowers cannot be analyzed: it must be smelled and +felt. That's the only way you'll ever know it. The fine scholarly +analyses of John are helpful. But there's the subtler something that +cannot be diagramed or analyzed or synthesized. It eludes the +razor-edged knife, and the keenly critical survey. It is recognized only +by one's spirit, and then only when the spirit is warm, and in tune with +John's. + +Of course each of the Gospel stories has a message of its own, quite +apart from the group of facts common to them all. And these four +messages together give us the fuller distinctive message of these four +little books. And a very winsome message it is, too, that takes hold of +one's heart, and takes a warm strong hold at that. + +_Matthew_ tells us that Jesus is a _King_. For a great purpose He chose +to live as a peasant, as one of the common folks. But He was of the +blood royal. He has the long unbroken kingly lineage. He showed kingly +power in His actions, kingly wisdom in His teachings, and the fine +kingly spirit in His gracious kindliness of touch. He was gladly +accepted and served as King by those who understood Him best. He was +acknowledged as King by the Roman Governor; and He died as a King, and +as a King was laid in a newly hewn tomb. + +_Mark_ adds a fine touch to this picture, a warm touch with colour in +it,--this King of ours is _a serving King_. This comes not only with a +warm feel, but it comes as a distinct surprise. Men's kings are _served_ +kings. There have been kings, and are, who rendered their people a fine +high service, and do. But the overpowering impression given the common +crowd watching on the street is that kings are superior beings, to be +waited upon, humbly bowed to, and implicitly obeyed. They are to be +served. + +Bat Mark's picture shows us a King whose passion is to serve. The +service which He draws out of His followers is drawn out by His warm +serving spirit towards us. The words on the royal coat-of-arms are, "Not +to be ministered unto, but to minister." And in the first meaning of the +words He Himself used that means "not to be _served_ but to _serve_." In +Mark the air is tense with rapid action. The quick executive movement of +a capable servant is felt in the terse words short sentences and swift +action of the story. + +There's yet warmer colouring in _Luke's_ picture. This serving King is +_nearest of kin to us!_ He is not only of the blood royal, but of the +blood human. He is bone of our bone, blood of our blood, and life of our +common life. He came to us through a rare union of God's power with +human consent and human function, never known before nor repeated since. +This is the bit that Luke adds to the composite message of these four +little God-story books. + +Here Jesus has a tenderness of human sympathy with us men, for He and we +are brothers. There's an outlook as broad as the race. No national +boundaries limit its reach. No sectional prejudices warp or shut Him off +from sympathetic touch with any. He shares our common life. He knows our +human temptations, and knows them with a reality that is painful, and +with an intensity that wets His brow and shuts His jaw hard. + +This king who serves is _a man_. He _can_ be a king of men for He is a +_man_. He has the first qualification. I might use an old-fashioned word +in the first old-time meaning,--He is _a fellow_, one who shares the +bed and bread of our common experience. And so He is _kin to us_, both +in lineage and in experience, in blood and in spirit. + +And John's share in this partnership message adds a simple bold touch of +colouring that makes the picture a masterpiece, _the_ masterpiece. This +King who serves, and is nearest of kin to us, is also _nearest of kin to +God_. He is not only of the blood royal, and the blood human, but of the +blood divine. He was with God before calendars came into use. He was the +God of that creative Genesis week. He came on an errand down to the +earth, and when the errand was done, and well done, He went back home, +bearing on His person the marks of His fidelity to the Father's errand. +This is John's bit of rich high colouring. + +And so _we are nearest of kin to God_ through Jesus. Kinship is always a +matter of blood. There is a double kinship, through the blood of +inheritance, and the blood of sacrifice. Our _inherited_ kinship of +blood has been lost. But His blood of sacrifice has made a new kinship. +We had broken the entail of our inheritance clean beyond mending. We +were _outcasts_ by our own act. But He _cast in_. His lot with us, and +so drew us back and up and in. He made a new entail through His blood. +And that new entail is as unbreakable as the old broken one is +unmendable. And so we come into the family of a King. And we are +kingliest in character when we are Christliest in spirit and action. We +are most like the King when we are helping others. + +Our true motto, in our relation to our fellows, is: "I am among you as +he that serveth." Towel and basin, bended knee and comforted +pilgrim-feet and refreshed spirit,--this is our family crest. We're kin +to all the race through Jesus. Black skin and white, yellow and brown; +round heads and long, slanting eyes and oval, in slum alley and palatial +home, below the equator and above it,--all are our kinsmen. + +We are reaching highest when we are stooping lowest to help some one up. +We're nearest like God in character when we're getting nearest in touch +to those needing help. We are kingliest and Godliest and Christliest +when we're controlled by men's needs, but always under the higher +control of the Holy Spirit. + +This is the composite message of the four Gospels; and this is its +practical human outworking. + + + +God on a Wooing Errand. + + +But it's the other John message we are especially after just now. +There's another message of John's book quite distinct from this, though +naturally allied with it. And this other is the crowding message of his +book. Its thought crowds in upon you till every other is crowded into +second place. And as it gets hold of you it crowds your mind and heart +and life till every other is either crowded out, or crowded to a lower +place; _out_, if it jars; _lower place_, if it agrees, for every +agreeing bit yields to the lead of this tremendous message. + +But one must get hold of John before John's message gets hold of him. +John was swayed by a passion. It was a fiery passion flaming through all +his life. It burned through him as the fierce forest fire burns through +the underbrush. Every base thing was eaten up by its flame. Every less +worthy thing came under its heat. It melted and mellowed and moulded his +whole being. + +It was _the Jesus-passion_. It was kindled that memorable afternoon +early in his life down in the Jordan bottoms.[1] John's namesake, the +Herald, applied the kindling match. From then on the flames never +flickered nor burned low. They increased steadily, and they increased in +purity, until his whole life was under their holy heat. + +John didn't always understand his Master. Sometimes he misunderstood. +But he never failed in his trust of Him, nor in his fidelity to Him. Of +the chosen inner circle John was the one who remained true through the +sorest test, that betrayal-night test. Judas betrayed; Peter denied; the +nine fled in terror down the road to save their cowardly lives; John +went in "_with_ Jesus." That fiery nature of his, that early won for him +the stormy name "son of thunder," came completely under the sway of this +holier tenderer stronger flame, and burned itself out in a passion of +love for Jesus. + +The Jesus-passion swayed John completely. This explains the man, and his +career. It explains this little book of his ripe old age. And only this +can. One must read the book through John's own heart, then he begins to +understand it. This Jesus-passioned man is the key to the book, the +human key. + +And the distinctive message of the book is simply this: _Jesus was God +on a wooing errand to the earth_. That simple sentence covers fully all +that is found in John's twenty-one chapters. Every line in these +fourteen or fifteen pages can be traced back into that brief statement. + +Indeed this becomes an outline of the book. See: in the opening +paragraphs the wooing Lover is coming down to earth.[2] In the first +twelve chapters the Lover is pleading winsomely and earnestly for +acceptance.[3] Then He is seen in closest touch with the inner group of +those who have accepted, opening His heart yet more, wooing still +closer.[4] Then comes the last tragic pleading, pleading in intensest +action, with those who persist in rejecting.[5] And then the last close +heart-touches with the inner circle.[6] + + + +The Water-Mark of John's Gospel. + + +The very words John so thoughtfully chooses as his leading words bear +the distinct impress of this, like the sharply indented stamp of the +mint on the new coin. Two such words stand out above all others, +"believe" and "witness." The first actually occurs oftenest, sounding +out like the dominant chord of music running throughout a symphony. The +second is like the chief warp-thread into which the fabric is being +woven. + +The two words are really twins, born at the same time, of the same +mother. They grow up together and work in perfect accord. The witnessing +is that men may understand and believe. It's the servant leading up to +the belief that shall become the mastering thing. The belief is servant, +too, in turn, leading up to the witnessing that becomes the mastering +passion in those who believe. + +These words are worth digging into for the fine gold that lies hidden +within waiting the miner's pick. The word "believe" is a nugget of pure +gold, whether you take our English word or John's word lying underneath. +The underneath word, that John uses in his own mother tongue, runs a +sliding scale of meaning. + +It's a ladder rising from bottom round to topmost. It means to be +persuaded that a thing is true; then to place confidence in it, to +trust. And _trust_ always contains the idea of _risk_. The heart-meaning +always is that you _risk_ something very precious to you, risk it to the +point of heart-breaking disaster if your trust proves wrong. + +Our English word is of very close kin. It runs the same sort of sliding +scale, from something valuable and precious in itself, on to something +that _satisfies you_ regarding the matter in hand. You are not only +satisfied but pleased, content. And so there is the same trusting and +risking, the same leaning your whole weight upon the thing. Deep down +at its root, _believe_ is a close kinsman to _love_. They both spring +out of the same warm creative womb. + +When we dig a bit into that word _believe_ in the usage of common life +it means three distinct things, each leading straight into the +other,--knowledge, belief, trust. That is, _facts_, facts _accepted_, +facts _trusted_ in regard to something that takes hold of your life. You +hear something. You believe it's true. But there must be the third +thing, risking something valuable. There's no belief in the +heart-meaning without this thing of _risking_. The trust that risks is +the life blood of faith. The rest is only the bony skeleton with tendons +and sinews and flesh. There's no life without the blood. There's no +belief without trust. + +And the word _witness_ is the same pure-gold sort of nugget, assaying +full weight. John's native word and our own are just the same in +meaning. Their meaning is _to tell what you know_. We shall be running +across this word again, and digging a bit deeper into it. But this is +the thing that stands out in it. You tell something that you yourself +know. There's personal knowledge. There's a telling some one else this +thing you know. And yet more, there's the purpose in the telling, that +others may know what you know, and get all the good that comes with +knowing it. + +The _witnessing_ is that others may _believe_. It is a striking thing in +John that the _thought_ of witness is more common than the _word_. The +word occurs several times, and always in a leading way. But the thought +of witnessing is the colouring of every page, and the chief colouring. + +I said that these two words were twins, born at the same time, of the +same mother. That warm-hearted brooding mother is the word _wooing_. +Originally _wooing_ means bending towards, inclining forward or reaching +out towards another. And the purpose of the reaching out is to get the +other to reach forward towards you. And that purpose puts the warm feel +into the reaching out. + +All words were pictures first. Here in this word _wooing_ is a picture, +by one of the old masters, waiting to be restored, with all the dusty +accumulations of the years carefully removed. And here's the picture: a +man standing, with the light of the morning shining in His eyes, body +bending forward, hands reaching out, with an eagerness, an expectancy in +every line of His body, and tender love glowing out of His face, and +sounding in the very tones with which the voice is calling. + +This picture is really the water-mark on the paper of John's Gospel. +Hold up the paper of John's Gospel to the light. The best light for the +purpose is found on Mount Calvary. High altitudes have clearer light. +You see more distinctly. Now look. Hold still that you may see all the +outlines more distinctly. There's the form of a Man standing in pleading +attitude, with outstretched hands. His face combines all the fineness of +the finest woman's face, with all the strength of the strongest man's, +and more, immensely more, all the purity and tenderness and power of +_God's_ face. It _is_ God Himself in human form coming a-wooing to +earth, and we call His name Jesus. This conception is the very +atmosphere of John's Gospel. + +Jesus is the witness of the Father to men. He knew the Father. He knew +Him by closest intimacy. He lived with Him. He came down to _tell_ what +He knew. He wanted others to know too. He wanted them to know _even as_ +He knew. _Telling_ is the whole of Jesus; telling men of the Father. + +His mere presence, His character, His warm sympathy, His practical +helpfulness, His words, His actions, most of all His dying and His +rising, all these were a _telling_, a witnessing, a wooing; telling the +Father's love, telling the damnableness of our sin by giving His very +life blood to get it out of us; so telling us how we might really know +the mother-heart of the Father. + + + +Jesus the Dividing Line. + + +There are several contrasts between the first three Gospels and John's. +It is very striking to notice one in particular in this connection. One +reading the first three Gospels for the first time is impressed with the +fact of Jesus' _rejection_. This stands out peculiarly and dominantly. +It was the great fact, told most terribly in the death of Jesus. It was +the thing that stood out sharpest in the generation to which Jesus +belonged, the generation for whom these three Gospels were written at +the first. + +But John wrote his story for an after-generation, a generation that had +not known the man Jesus by personal touch and observation. And so it was +for all after-generations. And John makes it very clear that Jesus was +rejected, _and_ accepted. + +He was indeed _rejected_; that fact stands out as painfully here as in +the others. He was rejected by the little inner clique that held the +national reins, and held them with fevered tenacity, and drove hard. And +the reason for it is made to stand out as plainly as the fact. The envy +and jealousy, the intense bitterness and viciousness and devilish +obstinacy back of the rejection stand as boldly out to all eyes as to +Pilate's. + +But the other side stands out sharply too. Jesus was _accepted_. He was +accepted by all classes, by the cultured, and the scholarly, by +thoughtful studious leaders and officials of the nation. He was accepted +by the great middle classes and by those in lowest scale socially, and +by the moral outcasts. Intense Hebrews, Roman officials of high rank, +half-breed Samaritans, and men of outside nations group themselves +together by their full acceptance of Jesus. + +He was listened to, doubted, questioned, discussed, thought over, _and +then accepted._ And He was accepted with a faith and with a love that +counted not suffering nor sacrifice for the sake of Him whom they +believed and trusted and loved. John makes this clear, rejected _and_ +accepted. + +Jesus divided the crowds. Down the road He comes, with quiet strength, +witnessing to the great simple truth of the Father's pure strong wooing +love. And the crowd looks and listens and--_divides_. Some reject; +clearly they are a minority, but entrenched in a position of power that +proves quite sufficient for their purpose. Though it took all the power +at their command to carry out their purpose. + +Others accept. These are the crowds, the majority. Some don't +understand. Their motives are selfish or mixed, like some other folks' +motives. Some are played upon by the cunning of the leaders and swung +away. But there remain the thoughtful ones whose faith goes from +weakness to strength; it grows from more to yet more. It mellows from a +true simple faith to a deepened, seasoned, sorely-tested, +surely-toughened faith that loves, loves clear down to the roots, and +endures gladly. This is the simple warp-thread into which John's very +simple story of Jesus is woven. + + + +Spelling God. + + +_I_ want to give you _a bunch of keys_, as we start into these homely +talks in John's Gospel. They are simple keys. Any one can use them. They +fit easily and smoothly into every lock, the lock of your life, the lock +of any circumstance, any sore problem that may come up to baffle all +your efforts. They bring treasures within easy reach. They open up the +way into all you need. There is a key to God, a key to the Book of God, +and then there are three keys to this little John book. + +_The key to God_ is in one little word. It has two spellings, sometimes +with four letters, sometimes with five, and both correct spellings. The +four-lettered spelling is for all the world. The five-lettered spelling +is chiefly used in the western half of the earth, and along certain +lines and in certain spots here and there in the eastern half where the +word is known. + +That first spelling is l-o-v-e. God is love. Love is of God. _God is +always controlled by a purpose_ in all His dealings with the race, and +with you and me. There is no chance-happening with Him, no caprice, no +shadow in His path that tells of His being swerved aside, by anything we +do, from a steady purpose. + +And that controlling purpose is _always a purpose of love._ It's a +purpose of strong steady pure clinging brooding love. The bother is we +don't know what that word _love_ means; none of us. We know words but +not the real things they stand for. We don't know the real thing of love +because we don't know the real thing of God. If we knew, oh! if we but +knew it--Him--how that simple statement would melt us down, and mellow +us through, and mould us all over anew! + +That's the shorter spelling. It is the universal spelling. That love is +being spelled out to all the race by every twinkling star in the upper +blue, every shade of green in the lower brown, by every cooling shading +night, and every fragrantly dewy morning. Every breath of air and bite +of food and draught of water is repeating God's spelling lesson. These +are the pages in God's primer. So we all may learn to spell out God. And +so we get the right spelling of our own lives. + +Then there's the other spelling, the five-lettered, J-e-s-u-s. It's the +same thing, only spelled differently; spelled in a yet better way. The +spelling grows bigger to us when Jesus comes. When we know Him it takes +more to spell out and to tell out God's love. God grows larger to our +eyes as He comes walking among us as Jesus. No, He doesn't grow larger. +We simply begin to find out how large He is. + +This is the closer, more human spelling. The letters are nearer and seem +bigger as they come walking down the street where we live, and knock at +our own door. They're easier spelled out. We can get hold of them +better. Love is a thing, we _think_. Jesus is _a person_. It's so +different to touch a person. But when we know, we know that both +spellings tell the same thing. So far, only about a third of us have +heard anything about this second, this closer spelling. Two out of three +haven't heard about it yet. But those who really know this spelling are +eager for the others to get it, too. + +God is always controlled by a great simple purpose in thinking of you +and me. And it is an unfailing purpose of strong tender love. This is +the first key. Any one may take it and use it. It is unfailing. It will +fit every lock. It unlock every problem. It will open up the riches to +any life. They're brought within easy reach of any hand by the steady +use of this key. + +This is the key to God. It unlocks the doors and lets Him freely into +our lives. Then we find out how much truer it is than we can understand. + +Then there's _the key to the Book of God._ There are many keys here, of +course. Daily time alone with the Book, thoughtful reading, prayer, some +simple plan, putting into your life what has been put in its +pages,--these are all good keys. But there's a master-key, _the_ +master-key. It is simply this: glad surrender of will to the God of the +Book. I mean a strong intelligent yielding to His mastery in all of +one's plans and life. The highest act of the strongest will is yielding +to a higher will when you find it. And you find the higher, the highest, +will here. + +This is the master-key. Bending the will affects eyes and ears and mind. +The hinges of eye and ear are in the will. As the will bends those +hinges move of themselves. Eye and ear and mind open. The lower the will +bends, the more fully and habitually, the more will eyes and ears open, +the keener and more alert will be the mental processes, the more +intelligent the understanding. And there comes to be a continual mutual +shifting. With better understanding can come stronger more intelligent +yielding of will, and so again clearer light. + +And it is striking to discover that there's a practical connection +between the joints of the knees and the joint of the will. The bending +of knees to a sharp right angle affects the will. It is easier to bend +it. It bends better and more. And this grows. The habitual bending of +the knees helps make habitual and stronger and more intelligent the +bending of the will. + +This is the master-key to the Book of God. It opens every lock and page. +It opens us to the Book, and opens the Book to us. It frees out to us +the wondrous Spirit who is in these pages. And so through the opened +Book there come to be the direct touch with the God of the Book. We +don't come to the Book merely; we come _through_ it to Him who comes +through it to us. This is the second key in this bunch. + + + +Three Keys. + + +Now, I want to give you _the three keys to John's Gospel._ There's a +back-door key, a side-door key, and a front-door key. These keys hang +outside the doors, low down, that so any one who wants to can easily +reach up, and get them. And if used faithfully and simply they will be +found to unlock every page and line and difficult question. + +_The back-door key_ hangs right at the back door. It is the very last +verse of chapter twenty. That really was the last chapter at first. The +thought of the book comes to a close there. The story is complete. Then +the Holy Spirit led John to add a little, a second last-chapter, an +added touch for good measure. Love is never content. It is always adding +more. + +Here is the key: "_these are written that ye may believe that Jesus is +the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life through +His name_." This was John's whole thought in telling the Jesus-story. +The practical gripped him wholly and hard. This is the thing that guides +his selection of incidents. This purpose shapes the shape of the book. +It explains everything told, and just why it is told in just the way it +is told. + +John lets Jesus walk before our eyes fresh from His Father's presence. +The mere fact of His presence, the winsomeness of His personality, the +clearness of His teaching, the power of His actions, the uncompromising +purity of His character amidst sin-stained crowds and sin-dirtied +surroundings, the unflinching rigidity of His ideals, the persuasiveness +of His very manner and tone of speech, the patience and gentleness, the +rugged granite strength, the mother tenderness, above all the +willingness to suffer so terribly,--all this is a plea, a tremendous +overpowering plea, all the stronger because presented so simply and +briefly. Jesus is a Lover and this is His wooing. + +And John's one thought in writing is the same as the one thought in the +Lover's heart. John has become simply an echo of Jesus. It is this, that +_you_, whoever you are, wherever, whatever, that you may _believe_. You +look and listen, question, puzzle a bit maybe, but keep on listening and +looking, thinking, weighing, till you are clear these things are just so +as John tells them. Yon accept them as trustworthy. Then you accept +_Him_, Jesus, as He comes to you, your wooing Lover, your Lover-God, +your Saviour and Lord. + +You _believe_: that is you _love_. The grammar of the word works itself +out inside you thus,--believe, trust, love. The truth comes in through +eyes and ears and feeling, into brain and will; through emotion clear +down into your heart. You love. You cannot help yourself. You love +_Him_, Jesus, the One so lovable. + +John says that you _may_ believe. It is possible. It is the reasonable +intelligent thing to do after such a presentation. John makes it easy +for us to believe. His telling of the story is so strong and convincing, +though so simple and short, that believing is the natural thing. Jesus +Himself, as He conies to us through John's eyes and speech, is so +believable, so trustworthy, so lovable. + +Now we _may_ believe. It's the thing to do after a thoughtful kneeful +study of the case as put by John. We _may believe_ clear into and +through intellect and emotions and will, right down into the depths of +heart and love, clear out into every action of the life. + +And John sweeps in the whole crowd of the world in the way he puts it +here. Listen: "that you may believe that Jesus is _the Christ_." That +was for the Jew peculiarly in the first instance. The Jew had been +taught through generations that there was One coming who was God's +chosen One for the Hebrew nation. He was the _Anointed One_. The Hebrew +said _Messiah_. The Greek said _Christ_. Both mean the same, the One +chosen of God, anointed by Him as the King and Leader of His chosen +people, and through them of all the race. + +Listen further: "that Jesus is _the Son of God." That_ is for all of us, +Jew and foreigner, insider and outsider. This Jesus is in a distinctive +sense _the_ Son of God, the only begotten Son. This pure loving pleading +wooing suffering dying rising-again Jesus, this is the only begotten Son +of the Father. All there is in a Father comes to, and is in, an only +begotten son. This is God Himself coming to us in His Son. + +Once let this sift into thought and heart, then who would _not_ believe, +_and_ trust, _and_ love, _and_ fall on his face in the utter devotion of +a voluntary slave before such a God! + +And so believing, trusting, loving, touching, His life flows in and +fills up and floods out. We have it _now_. That word _eternal_, used so +often by John with the word _life_, is not a mere _length_ word. It is +not a calendar word. It tells the sort of life, the quality of life, +that comes in through the opening door of our believing. This is John's +back-door key, but it lets you clear in through the whole house. + +Then there is _the side-door key_. It hangs at the side, a bit towards +the back. It is in the Thursday night talk, as we commonly call it, that +last heart-talk with the inner group on the betrayal night. It is in +chapter sixteen, verse twenty-eight: "_I came out from the Father, and +am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go unto the +Father_." + +Run through this Gospel with that fresh in your mind, and it is +perfectly fascinating to find how much like a magnet it is, picking out +to itself so many bits from the Master's lips that fit exactly into it. +Jesus' constant thought was that He used to be with the Father; He came +down on an errand to the earth. By and by when the errand was done He +would go back home again. + +This sentence becomes a simple, exact, comprehensive outline of the +entire Gospel. Notice: "_I came out from the Father_": that is chapter +one, verses one to eighteen. There Jesus is seen coming down from His +Father's own presence. Then chapter one, verse nineteen through to the +close of the twelfth chapter is fully described and covered by the next +clause, "_and am come into the world_." Here He is seen in the world, in +the midst of its crowds and contentions and oppositions. + +"_Again, I leave the world_,"--chapters thirteen to nineteen. In chapters +thirteen to seventeen He is tenderly leaving the inner circle. In +chapters eighteen and nineteen He is going out of the world by the +terrible doorway of the cross it had carpentered for Him. How quietly He +says the words, though the terrible going is yet to come, and is now so +near that He can already feel the shame and the thorns and the nails. + +And as quietly He looks beyond and adds, "_and go unto the Father_." In +chapters twenty and twenty-one He lingers a little for the sake of these +being left behind, but His face is already turned homeward. They would +hold Him in their midst. He quietly tells them that He is going back +home to the Father to get things ready for them, as He had said. + + + +He Comes to His Own. + + +_The front-door key_ hangs right at the very front, outside, low down, +where even a child's hand can reach it. It is in chapter one, verses +eleven and twelve: "_He came unto His own, and they that were His own +received Him not. But as many as received Him to them gave He the right +to become children of God, even to them who believe on His name_." This +is the great key, the chief key to this whole house. It flings the front +door wide open and you are inside at once, and take in the whole of the +house at a glance, one glance, one wonderful glance. + +The first twelve chapters tell of Jesus coming to His own, His own +nation, humanly, racially, His own chosen people. He is coming steadily +and persistently, in spite of rebuffs; coming patiently, tenderly, +earnestly; coming ever closer in the ever increasing measure of divine +power seen in His actions. + +And continually, persistently, He is being rejected and accepted. He is +rejected silently and contemptuously, then aggressively and bitterly, +viciously and murderously. "His own received Him not." But many received +Him, eagerly and warmly and thoughtfully. They received Him with a +growing depth of conviction and deepening tenderness of love. And as +they come, He is ever receiving them, giving them that touch of new +life that marks only the children of God. + +In chapters thirteen to seventeen He is receiving into closer fellowship +those who have received Him, and at the same time wooing them into yet +closer touch. The story of the trial and crucifixion in chapters +eighteen and nineteen, puts the most terrific emphasis on the words, +"_received Him not_." They not only keep Him out of His own possessions, +but do their worst in putting Him out of life. And the little book +closes in its last two chapters with His receivers being received into +the sweetest intimacies of tested triumphant love and into the inner +secrets of rarest resurrection power. + +This is the most heart-breaking of all of John's heart-breaking +sentences. John had a hard time writing this Gospel of his. He was not +simply writing a book; that might have been fairly easy. But he was +telling about a friend of his, _the_ friend of his life, his one dearest +Friend. And when he remembers how they treated Him his eyes fill up, and +his heart beats till it thumps, and his quill sticks into the paper in +sheer reluctance to tell the story. + +I think likely in the original manuscript, John's own first copy, the +writing was a bit shaky and uneven here. The dew of his wet eyes drops +and blurs the words a bit as he puts down, "He came to His own, and . . +they who were His own . . _received . . Him . . not_." + +One day a young student was crossing the quadrangles of one of the old +Scottish Universities towards his quarters in the dormitory. He was not +feeling well. His eyes had troubled him and made his work very +difficult. On the advice of a friend he sought the judgment of an expert +in the treatment of the eyes. The specialist made a very thorough +examination and then informed the young student tactfully but plainly +that he would lose his eyesight, surely and not slowly. + +Lose his eyesight? A sudden terrific actual blow between his eyes could +not have stunned his body more than this stunned brain and heart. Lose +his eyesight! All his plans and coveted ambitions seemed slipping clean +out from his grasp. With the loss of eyes would go the loss of +university training, and so of all his dreams. Dazed, blinded, he groped +his way rather than walked out of the physician's office. + +His life was to be joined with another's. And now he turned his +distracted steps towards her home, hungry doubtless for some word or +touch of comfort for his sore heart. And he was thinking, too, that with +this utter break-up of the future she must be told. And as he talked he +said in quiet manly words that under these unexpected circumstances, and +the radical change in his prospects, she must be free to do as she +thought best. + +And she took her freedom! Yet she was a woman. And a woman's mission is +to teach man love by the real thing of love, by being it herself, and +drawing it out into full flower in him. That was the second staggering +blow. A second time he groped his dazed way out of the house, down the +street, into his lone student quarters. + +But another One was near, brooding over him, and tenderly holding his +breaking heart, and speaking words of warm comfort, and breathing in the +freshing breath of true love. And as he yielded to this it overcame all +else. A new mood came and dominated. And it became the fixed thing +mastering all his life. Now he sits down, and out of his torn bleeding +but newly-touched heart writes the words we have all learned to sing: + + "O Love that will _not_ let me go, + I rest my weary soul in Thee, + I give Thee back the life I owe, + That in thine ocean depths its flow + May richer, fuller be. + + "O Light that followest all my way, + I yield my flickering torch to Thee; + My heart restores its borrowed ray + That in Thy sunshine's glow its day + May brighter, fairer be. + + "O Joy that seekest me through pain, + I cannot close my heart to Thee; + I trace the rainbow through the rain, + And feel the promise is not vain + That morn shall tearless be. + + "O Cross that liftest up my head, + I dare not ask to hide from Thee; + I lay in dust life's glory dead, + And from the ground there blossoms red + Life that shall endless be." + +And with but a single change, the change of a word or two in one line, +they stand as at first written. I suppose his biographer omitted the +incident for the same reason that the first three Gospels may have +omitted the incident of Lazarus while he was still living. So there was +a sheltering from personal embarrassment. + +He came to his own and his own received him not. _He_--Jesus came to +_His_ own and they that were His own received Him not. Aye, there's more +to add: He _comes_ to His own--you and me--to-day. And His own-- + +You and I must finish that sentence, each in his own way. And we will; +and we do. We may copy out in our lives just what these men of old did +as told by John. Some of us do. We _may_ do some fine revision work on +the text of John's version as we translate it now into the experience of +our own hearts, and into the life of our own lives. That's the only way +to understand the next sentence about being taken into the family of God +and sharing the fullness of life that is common there. + +And this bit that is put down here is only a bit of copy work. _These +things_ are talked and written only that we may be given a lift into +closer touch of heart and life with the Christ, the Son of God, and the +Brother and Saviour of men. + + + + +II + +The Wooing Lover + + _Who it Was that Came_ + + + + + "But with unhurrying chase, + And unperturbed pace, + Deliberate speed, majestic instancy, + They beat--and a Voice beat + More instant than the Feet-- + _'All things betray thee, who betrayest Me'_" + + --"_The Hound of Heaven._" + + + "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: 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." + + --_Rev. iii. 20._ + + + + +II + +The Wooing Lover + +(John i. 1-18.) + + + +In His Own Image. + + +Love gives. It gives freely and without stint, yet always thoughtfully. +It gives itself out, its very life. This is its life, to give its life. +It lives most by giving most. So it comes into fullness of life. + +So it _gets_. A thing of life, in its own image, comes walking eagerly +with outstretched arms to its embrace. It gives that it may get. Yet the +giving is the greater. It brings most joy. + +This is the very essence of life, this giving creating spirit. It is +everywhere, in lower life and higher and highest, wherever the touch of +God has come. The sun gives itself out in life and light and warmth. And +out to greet it comes a bit of itself--the fine form and sweet fragrance +of the rose, the tender blade of grass, the unfolding green of the leaf, +the wealth of the soil, the song of the bird and the grateful answer of +all nature. + +The hen sits long patient days on her nest. And forth comes cheeping +life in her own image, answering the call of her mothering spirit. The +mother-bird in the nest in the crotch of the tree gives her life day by +day in brooding love. And her wee nestling offspring, in her own image, +answers with glad increase of strength and growth. + +Father and mother of our human kind give of their very life that new +life may come. And under the overshadowing touch of an unseen Presence +comes a new life made in their image, and in His who broods unseen over +all three. And over the life wrecked by sin broods the Spirit of God. +And out through the doorway of an opening will, comes a new creature of +winsome life in the very image of that brooding Spirit of God. + +This is the holy commonplace of all life. It is the touch of God. It is +everywhere about us, and beneath and above. The father-mother Spirit of +God broods over all our common life. And when things go wrong, He broods +a bit closer and tenderer. He meets every need of the life He has +created. And He meets it in the same way, by giving Himself. + +And there's always the response. The fragrance of the rose answers the +sun. The pipped shell brings the longed-for answer to the gladdened +mother-bird. The ever wondrous babe-eyes give unspeakable answer to the +yearning of father and mother heart. The heart of man leaps at the call +of his God. + +This makes quite clear the wondrous response men gave Jesus when He +walked among us. Jesus was God coming a bit closer in His brooding love +to mend a break and restore a blurred image. And men answered Him. They +couldn't help it. How they came! They didn't understand Him, but they +felt Him. They couldn't resist the tender, tremendous pull upon their +hearts of His mere presence. + +And Jesus drew man into the closest touch of intimate friendship. The +long-range way of doing things never suited Him. And it doesn't. He +didn't keep man at arm's length. And He doesn't. And then because they +were friends, He and they, they were eager to serve, and willing even to +suffer, to walk a red-marked roadway for Him they loved. + + + +The Gospel According to--You. + + +Among all those who felt and answered the call of Jesus was one called +John, John the disciple. Jesus drew John close. John came close. John +lived close. John came early and he stayed late. He stayed to the very +end, into the evening glow of life. And all his long life he was under +the tender holy spell of Jesus' presence. He was swayed by the +Jesus-passion. Always burning, he was yet never consumed; only the alloy +burned up and burned out, himself refined to the quality of life called +eternal. + +Then John came to the end of his long life. And he knew he would be +slipping the tether of life and going out and up and in to the real +thing of life. And I think John was a bit troubled. Not because he was +going to die. This never troubles the man who knows Jesus. The +Jesus-touch overcomes the natural twinges of death. But he was troubled +a bit in spirit for a little by the thought that he would not be on +earth any longer to talk to people about Jesus. And to John this was the +one thing worth while. This was the life-passion. + +And so I think John prayed about it a bit. For this is what he did. He +said to himself, "I will write a book. I'll make it a little book, so +busy people can quickly read it. I'll pick out the simplest words I know +so common folks everywhere that don't have dictionaries can easily +understand. And I'll make them into the shortest simplest sentences I +can so they can quickly get my story of Jesus." And so John wrote his +little book. And we call it the story of Jesus according to John, or, as +we commonly say the Gospel--the God-story--according to John. + +And all this is a simple bit of a parable. It is a parable in action. +Jesus is brooding over us, giving Himself, warmly wooing us. He woos us +into personal friendship with Himself. And then He asks that each of us +shall write a gospel. This is the Gospel according to John; and these +others according to Luke and Mark and Matthew. He means that there shall +be the gospel according to--_you_. What is your name? put it in there. +Then you get the Master's plan. There is to be the gospel according to +Charles and Robert and George, and Mary and Elizabeth and Margaret. + +And you say, "Write a gospel? I couldn't do that. You don't mean that. +That's just a bit of preaching." No, it isn't preaching. It's so. I do +not mean to write with a common pen of steel or gold; nor on just common +paper of rags or wood-pulp. But I do mean--_He_ means--that you shall +write with the pen of your daily life. And that you shall write on the +paper of the lives of those you're touching and living with every day. + +Clearly, He meant, and He means, that you and I shall live such simple +unselfish lovable Jesus-touched lives, in just the daily commonplace +round of life, that those we live with shall know the whole story of +Jesus' love and life; His love burned out for us till there were no +ashes, and His life poured out for us till not a red drop was left +unspilled. + +Are _you_ writing _your_ gospel? Is your life spelling out this simple +wondrous God-story? I can find out, though, of course, I shall not. What +I mean is this,--_the crowd knows._ The folks that touch you every day, +they know. This old Bible was never printed so much as to-day, nor +issued more numerously. And--thoughtfully--it was never read _less_ by +the common crowd on the common street of life than to-day. + +That doesn't mean that the crowd doesn't read what it supposes to be +religious literature. It does. I wish we church folk read our religious +literature as faithfully as this crowd I speak of reads its. It is +reading _the gospel according to you,_ and reading it daily, and +closely, and faithfully, and remembering what it reads, and being shaped +by it. + +This Bible I have here is bound in--I think it is called sealskin. I +tried to get the best wearing binding I could. But I've discovered that +there's a better binding than this. The best binding for the Gospel is +shoe-leather. The old Gospel of the Son of God is at its best as it is +being tramped out on the common street of life. Its truths stand out +clearest as they're walked out. Its love comes warmest, its power is +most resistless as it comes to you in the common give-and-take of daily +touch in home and shop and street. Are you writing your copy of the +Gospel? + +You know that sometimes scholars have found some precious manuscripts in +old monasteries. They have gone into some old, grey, stone monkery in +the Near East, and they have run across old manuscripts hidden away in +some dark cell, covered with dust and with rubbish, perhaps. With much +tact and diplomacy they have at length managed to get possession of the +coveted manuscript. And they have been fairly delighted to find that +they have gotten hold of a remnant, a very precious remnant, of one of +these Gospels. In just this way much invaluable light has been gotten +that made possible these precious revised versions. + +I wonder if _your_ gospel--the one you're writing with your life--is +_just a remnant,_ a ragged remnant. And perhaps there's a good bit of +dusting necessary, and removing of rubbish, to get even at what there is +there. And some of the shy hungry hearts that touch you and me need to +use quite a bit of unconscious diplomacy perhaps to get even as much as +they do. I wonder. The crowd knows. It could throw a good bit of light +here. How much of this old Jesus-story _are_ you really _living!_ + +Of course, there's a special touch of inspiration in these four Gospels. +The Holy Spirit brooded over these men in a special way as they wrote. +That is true. These are the standard Gospels. We would never know the +blessed story but for these four Spirit-breathed little books. But it is +also true that that same Holy Spirit will guide you in the writing of +your version of the Gospel. + +These four Gospels are different from each other. The colouring of +Luke's warm personality, and of his physician habit of thought is in his +Gospel very plainly. And so it is with each one of these Gospels. And, +even so, there will be the colouring of your personality, your habit of +thought, the distinct tinge of the experience you have been through, in +the gospel you write with the pen of your life, and bind up in the +shoe-leather of your daily round. + +But through all of this there will be the simple, subtle, but very real, +atmosphere of the Holy Spirit, helping you make the story plain and +full, and helping people to understand that story as it is _lived_, as +they never can simply by hearing it told with tongues or read through +eyes. + +Are you writing your gospel? Is your daily life spelling out the life +and love of Jesus, that life that was poured out till none was left, +that love that was burned out till even the ashes were burned up, too? +This is the Master's plan. And practically it is the crowd's only +chance. + + + +God in Human Garb. + + +Now I want to have you turn with me to the opening lines of John's +Gospel. There are not many of these opening lines. The whole story is a +short one. These lines at the beginning are like an etching, there are +the fewest touches of pen on paper, of black ink on white surface. But +the few lines are put in so simply and skilfully that they make an +exquisite picture. It's the picture of _God coming in human garb as a +wooing Lover._ + +I think it might be best perhaps if I might simply give you _a sort of +free reading_ of these opening lines, with a word of comment or +illustration to try to make the meaning simpler. It will be a putting of +John's words into the simple every-day colloquial speech that we +English-speaking people use. John used very simple language in his own +telling of the story in his mother-tongue. And it may help if we try to +do the same. + +You will quickly see how very simple this free translation will be. Yet, +let me say, that though homely and simple it will be strictly accurate +to what John is thinking and saying in his own native speech. I mean of +course, so far as I can find out just what he is thinking and saying. + +Let us turn then to John's Gospel, at its beginning. And it will help +very much if we keep our Bibles open as we talk and read together. + +Listen: _in the beginning there was a wondrous One_. He was the mind of +God thinking out to man. He was the heart of God throbbing love out to +man's heart. He was the face of God looking into man's face. He was the +voice of God, soft and low, clear and distinct, speaking into man's +ears. He was the hand of God, strong and tender, reaching down to take +man by the hand and lead him back to the old trysting-place under the +tree of life, down by the river of water of life. + +He was the person of God wearing a human coat and human shoes, +hand-pegged, walking in freely amongst us that we might get our tangled +up ideas about God and ourselves and about life untangled, straightened +out. He was God Himself wrapped up in human form coming close that we +might get acquainted with Him all over again. + +This is part of the meaning of the little five-lettered word in his own +tongue that John chooses and uses, at the first here, as a new name for +Him who was commonly called Jesus. It was because of our ears that he +used the new word. If he had said "Jesus" at once, they would have said +"Oh! yes, we know about Him." And at once their ears would have gone +shut to the thing that John is saying. + +For they didn't know. And we don't. We know _words_. The thing, the real +thing, we know so little. So John uses a new word at the first, and so +floods in new light. And then we come to see whom he is talking about. +It's a bit of the diplomacy of God so as to get in through dulled ears +and truth-hardened minds down in to the heart. + +Nature always seems eager to meet a defect. It seems to hurry eagerly +forward to overcome defects and difficulties. The blind man has more +acute hearing and a more delicate sense of feel. The deaf man's eyes +grow quicker to watch faces and movements and so learn what his ears +fail to tell him. The lame man leans more on other muscles, and they +answer with greater strength to meet the defect of the weaker muscles. + +The bat has shunned the light so long through so many bat-generations +that it has become blind, but it has remarkable ears, and nature has +grown for it an abnormal sense of touch, and a peculiar sensitiveness +even where there is no contact, so that it avoids obstacles in flying +with a skill that seems uncanny, incredulous. + +I remember in Cincinnati one night, sitting on the platform of a public +meeting by the side of a widely known Christian worker and speaker who +was blind. As various men spoke he quietly made brief comments to me,--" +_He_ doesn't strike fire." And then, "_He_ doesn't touch them." And +then, "Ah! _he's_ got them; that's it; now they're burning." And it was +exactly so as he said. I sat fascinated as I watched the crowd and heard +his comments. The sense of discerning what was going on in another way +than by sight had been grown in him by the very necessity of his +blindness. Defect in one sense was overcome by nature, by increase in +another sense. + +When Queen Victoria was in residence in Scotland at Balmoral it was her +kindly custom to present the various clergymen who preached in the +Castle chapel with a photograph marked with her autograph. When George +Matheson, the famous blind preacher, came she showed the fine thoughtful +tact for which she was famous. Clearly an autographed photograph would +not mean much in itself to a blind man. So the Queen had a miniature +bust-statue made and presented to him as her acknowledgment of his +service. And so where his eyes failed to let him see, his sense of touch +would carry to his mind and heart the fine features of the gracious +sovereign he was so glad to serve. + +Jesus was God coming in such a way that we could know Him _by the feel_. +We had gone blind to His face. We couldn't read His signature plainly +autographed by His own hand on the blue above and the brown below. But +when Jesus came _men knew God by the feel_. They didn't understand +Jesus. But the sore hungry crowds reached out groping trembling fingers, +and they knew Him. They began to get acquainted with their gracious +Sovereign. + +All this gives the simple clue to this word "_Word_" which John uses as +a new name for Jesus. Man had grown deaf to the music of God's voice, +blind to the beauty of His face, slow-hearted to the pleading of His +presence. His hand was touching us but we didn't feel it. So He came in +a new way, in a very homely close-up way and walked down our street into +our own doors that we might be caught by the beauty of His face, and +thrilled by the music of His voice, and thralled by the spell of His +presence. + + + +God at His Best. + + +John goes on: _and this wondrous One was with God_. There were two of +them. And the two were together. They were companions, they were +friends, fellows together. _And this One was God_. Each was the same as +the other. _This is the same One who was in the later creative beginning +with God. It was through this One that all things were made. And, of all +things that have been made, not any thing was made without Him_. + +You remember that John's Gospel and Genesis begin in the same way,--"in +the beginning." But John's "in the beginning," the first one, is not the +same as the Genesis "in the beginning." John's is the beginning before +there was any beginning. It is the beginning before they had begun +making calendars on the earth, because there wasn't any earth yet to +make calendars on. Then this second time the phrase is used John comes +to the later creative beginning with which Genesis opens. This is what +John is saying here. + +"_In Him was life_." Out of Him came life. Out of Him comes life. There +was no life, there is none, except what was in this One, and what came, +and comes out from Him all the time. How patient God is! There walks a +man down the street. He leaves God out of his life. He may remember Him +so far as to use His name blasphemously to punctuate and emphasize what +he is saying. Yonder walks a woman in the shadow of the street at night. +And her whole life is spent walking in the dark shadow of the street of +life. And her whole life is a blasphemy against her personality, and +against the God who gave her that precious sacred personality. + +Take these two as extreme illustrations. There is life there; life of +the body, of the mind, life of the human spirit. Listen softly, all the +life there is there, is coming out all the time from this One of whom +John is talking. It is not given once as a thing to be taken and stored. +It is _being_ given. It is coming constantly with each breath, from this +wondrous One. This is what John is saying here. + +How _patient_ God is! Only we don't know what patience is. We know the +word, the label put on the outside. We don't know the thing, except +sometimes in very smallest part. For patience is love at its best. +Patience is God at His strongest and tenderest and best. + +I think likely when we get up yonder, we'll stop one another on the +golden streets. There'll be a hand put out, gripping the other hard. And +we'll look into each other's eyes with our eyes big. And we'll say with +breaking voices, "How _patient_ God was with us down there on the earth, +down there in London and New York." + +In Him was life. Out of His hand and heart is coming to us all the time +all we are and all we have. We may leave God practically out. So many of +us do. But He never leaves us out. The creating, sustaining touch of His +Hand is ever upon each of us, upon all the world. + +Though He cannot do all for us He would except as we gladly come and let +Him. What He is giving us is so _much_. It's our _all_. Yet it is the +smaller part. There's the fuller part. This is the whole drive of John's +story, this fuller part. Out of Him Jesus, into us will come the newer, +the better, the abundant quality of life, if He may have His way. + +And John adds,--"_and the life was the light of men."_ He was what we +_have_. He gives Himself; not things, but a person. With God everything +is _personal_. We men go to the impersonal so much, or we try to. We do +our best at it. We have a great genius for organization, especially in +this western half of the earth. + +As I came back from a four years' absence from my own country, I was +instantly conscious of a change. Either my ears were changed or things +about me were. I think likely both. But the wheels were going faster +than ever. There were more wheels, and their whir seemed never out of +ear-shot. Commercial wheels, and educational, philanthropic and +religious, political and humanitarian, thicker and faster than ever, +driving all day, and with almost no night there. + +And the whole attempt is to make the machine do the thing with as little +dependence as possible on the human element, even though the human +element was never emphasized more. Contradictory? Yet there it is. We +men go to the _im_personal. Yet deep down in our hearts we hunger for +the human touch, the warm personal touch. This after all is _the_ thing. +We all feel that. Yet the whole crowding of life's action is to crowd it +out. + +But with God everything is personal. The life is the light of men. What +He is in Himself--that is what He gives. And this is all the light and +life we ever have. Men make botany. God makes flowers breathing their +freshening fragrance noiselessly up into your face. Man makes astronomy. +God makes the stars, shaking their firelight out of the blue down into +your wondering eyes on a clear moonless night. Man makes theology. And +theology has its place, when it's kept in its place. _God gives us +Jesus_. + +I don't know much about botany. My knowledge of astronomy is very +limited. And the more I read of theology, whether Western or Eastern, +Latin Church or Greek, the first Seven Councils or the later ones, the +more I stand perplexed. It's a thing fearsomely and wonderfully +manufactured, this theology. But I frankly confess to a great fondness +for flowers, and for stars, and a love for Jesus that deepens ever more +in reverential awe and in tenderness and grateful devotion. The life was +the light of men. He Himself is all that we have. We go to _things_. We +reckon worth and wealth by things. He gives _Himself_. And He asks, not +_things_, but one's self. + + + +Packing Most in Least. + + +And John goes quietly on with his great simple story: "_and the light +shineth in the darkness_," John has a way of packing much in little. +Here he packs four thousand years into three English letters. For he has +been back in that creative Genesis week. And now with one long stride he +puts his foot down in the days when Jesus walks among us as a man. Forty +centuries, by the common reckoning, packed into three letters e-t-h. +Rather a skilful bit of packing that. Yet it is not unusual. It is +characteristic both of John and of the One that guides John's pen. When +He is allowed to have free sway the Holy Spirit packs much in little. + +That rugged old Hebrew prophet of fire and storm, Elijah, standing in +the grey dawn, in the mouth of an Arabian cave, had the whole of a new +God--a God of tender gentle love--packed into an exquisite sound of +gentle stillness, that smote so subtly on his ear, and completely melted +and changed this man of rock and thunder. It's a new man that turns his +face north again. The new God that had compacted Himself anew inside the +ruggedly faithful old man is revealed in the prophet's successor. This +is the new spirit, so unlike the old Elijah, that comes as a birth-right +heritage upon young Elisha. Great packing work that. + +That fine-grained young university fellow on the Damascus road, driving +hard in pursuit of his earnest purpose, had the whole of a God, a new +God to him, packed into a single flash of blinding light out of the +upper blue. He had the whole of a new plan, an utterly changed plan for +his life, packed into a single sentence spoken into his amazed ears as +he lies in the dust. + +And if this Holy Spirit may have His way--a big if? Yes: yet not too big +to be gotten rid of at once: God puts in the if's, that we may get the +strength of choosing. We put them out, _if_ we do. _If_ He may have His +way He'll pack--listen quietly, with your heart--He'll pack _the whole +of a Jesus_ inside you and me. Much in little! Most in least! And the +more we let Him in, the bigger that "most" prints itself to our eyes, +and the more that "least" dwindles down to the disappearing point. + +God gives us His own self in Jesus. Jesus comes to live inside of us. He +doesn't give us things, but Himself. We talk about salvation. There's +something better--_a Saviour_. We talk about help in trouble. There's +something immensely more--_a Friend_, alongside, close up. We talk about +healing--sometimes, not so much these days; the subject is so much +confused. There's something much better--a _Healer_, living within, +whose presence means healing and health for body and spirit. + +Then John says, "the light shineth _in the darkness_." This is God's way +of treating darkness. There are two ways of treating darkness, man's and +God's. Man's way is to attack the darkness. Suppose this hall where we +are were quite dark, all shuttered up, and suppose we were new on the +earth, and not familiar with darkness. We want to hold a meeting. But +how shall we get rid of this strange darkness that has come down over +everything? Let's each of us get a bucket or pail or basin, and take +some of the darkness out. So we'll get rid of it, and its inconvenience. + +And if the suggestion were made seriously there might be talk of putting +the suggestor in a certain sort of institution for the safety of the +community. Yet this is the way we go at the other darkness, the worse +moral darkness. + +_God's way_ is quite different; indeed just the exact reverse _let the +light shine._ The darkness can't stand the light. If the hall _were_ +quite dark, and I scratched only a parlour-match, instantly as the +little flame broke out of the end of the stick some of the darkness +would go. It's surprising how much would go, and how quickly. The +darkness can't stand the light. It flees like a hunted hare before a +pack of hounds. + +There may be times when action must betaken by a community against +certain forms of evil, so damnable, and so strongly entrenched, and so +threatening to the purity of home and young and of all. But note keenly +that this is _incidental_. It is immensely important at times, but it is +distinctly _secondary._ The great simple plan of God is this: _let the +light shine_. The darkness flees like a whipped cur, tail tightly curled +down and in, before the real thing of light. + +Let me ask you a question. Come up a bit closer and listen quietly, for +this is tremendously serious. And it's the quietest spoken word that +reaches the inner cockles of the heart. Listen: is it a bit dark down +where you live? Morally dark? Spiritually? How about that? in commercial +circles and social and fraternal, in church and home and city and +neighbourhood. Is it a bit dark? Or, have I found the Garden of Eden at +last before the serpent entered? + +Because if it be a bit dark, softly, please, let me say it very quietly, +for it may sound critical, and I would not have that for anything. We +are talking only to help. Though sometimes the truth itself does have a +merciless edge. If it be a bit dark does it not suggest that _the light +has not been shining as it was meant to_? For where the light shines the +darkness goes. + +For, you see, this is still God's plan for treating darkness. It is +meant to be true to-day of each of us,--"_the light shineth in the +darkness_." Of course, _we_ are not the light. He is the Light. But we +are the light-holders. I carry the Light of the world around inside of +me. And so do you, _if you do_. It is not because of the "me," of +course, but because of the great patience and faithfulness of Him who is +the Light. A very rickety cheap lantern may carry a clear light, and the +man in the ditch find good footing in the road again. + +You and I are meant to be the human lanterns carrying the Light, and +letting it shine clearly fully out. And you know when some one else is +providing the light the chief thing about the lantern is that the glass +of the lantern be kept dean and clear so the light within can get freely +out. The great thing is that _we shall live clean transparent lives_ so +the Light within may shine clearly out. We may live unselfish clean +Christly lives, by His great grace. And through that kind of lives, the +Light itself shines out, and shines out most, and most clearly. + +Over at the mouth of the Hudson, where I call it home, there are some +strange things seen. Sometimes the glass of this human lantern gets +smoky, badly smoked. And sometimes it even gets cobwebby, rather thickly +covered up. And even this has been known to happen up there,--it'll seem +very strange to you people doubtless--_this_; they write finely phrased +essays on the delicate shading of grey in the smoke on the glass of the +human lantern. + +They meet together and listen to essays, in rarely polished English, on +the exquisite lace-like tracery of the cobwebs on the glass of the human +lantern. But look! Hold your heart still and look! There's the crowd in +the road in the dark, struggling, jostling, stumbling, and falling into +the ditch at the side of the road, ditched and badly mired, because the +light hasn't gotten to them. The Light's there. It's burning itself out +in passionate eagerness to help. But the human lanterns are in bad +shape. + +"Rhetoric!" do you say? I wish it were. I wish with my heart it were. +Look at the crowds for yourself. There they go down the street, +pell-mell, bewildered, blinded, some of them by will-o'-the-wisp lights, +ditched and mired many of them. The thing is only too terribly true. + +Our Lord's great plan, bearing the stamp of its divinity in its sheer +human simplicity, is this: we who know Jesus are to _live Him_. We're to +let _the whole of a Jesus_, crucified, risen, living, shine out of _the +whole of our lives_. + +Is it a bit dark down where you are? _Let the Light shine_. Let the +clear sweet steady Jesus-light shine out through your true clean quiet +Jesus-swayed and Jesus-controlled life. Then the darkness must go. It +can't stand the Light. It can't withstand the purity and insistence of +its clear steady shining. And the darkness _will_ go: slowly, +reluctantly, angrily, doggedly, making hideous growling noises +sometimes, raising the dust sometimes, but it will go. It must go before +the Light. The Light's resistless. This is our Lord's wondrous plan +_through_ His own, and His irresistible plan _for_ the crowd, and His +plan against the prince of darkness. + + + +The Heart-road to the Head. + + +Then John goes on to say, "_the darkness apprehended it not_." The old +common version says "comprehended"; the revisions, both English and +American, say "apprehended." Both are rather large words, larger in +English than John would use. John loved to use simple talk. Yet there's +help even in these English words. Comprehend is a mental word. It means +to take hold of with your mind; to understand. Apprehend is a physical +word. It means to take hold of with your hand. + +You can't _comprehend_ Jesus. That is just the simple plain fact. You +may have a fine mind. It may be well schooled and trained. You may have +dug into all the books on the subject, English and German and the few +French. You may have spent a lifetime at it. But at the end there is +immensely more of Jesus that you don't understand than the part that you +do understand. You've touched the smaller part only, just the edges. You +cannot take Jesus in with your mind simply. The one is too big and the +other too limited for that particular process. + +But, listen with your heart, you can _apprehend_ Him. You can _take +hold_ of Him. There isn't one of us here, however poorly equipped +mentally and in training, and too busy with life's common duties to get +much time for reading, not one of us, who may not reach out your hand, +the hand of your heart, the hand of your life, the hand of your simple +childlike trust--if you're great enough in simplicity to be childlike, +to be natural, not one of us, but may reach out the hand and _take in +all there is of Jesus_. + +And the striking thing to mark is this, that we don't really begin to +comprehend until we apprehend. Only as we take Him into heart and life +_can_ we really understand. It's as if the heat in the heart made by His +presence there loosens up the grey juices of your brain, and it begins +to work freely and clearly. + +Of course, this is a commonplace in the educational world. It is well +understood there that no student does his best work, no matter what +that work may be, in science or philosophy or in mathematics or in +laboratorial research, his mind cannot do its best, or be at its best, +until his heart has been kindled by some noble passion. The key to the +life is in the heart, that is the emotions and purposes tied together. +The approach to the mind is through the heart. The fire of pure emotion +and of noble purpose burning together, works out _through_ the mind +_into_ the life. This is nature's order. + +But what John is saying here, put into as simple language as he would +use, is this: "_the darkness wouldn't let the light in, and couldn't +shut it out, and couldn't dull the brightness of its shining_." It +tried. It tried first at Bethlehem. The first spilling of blood came +there. There was the shedding of blood at both ends of Jesus' career, +and innocent blood each time. It tried at the Nazareth precipice, and in +the spirit-racking wilderness. It tried by stones, then in Gethsemane, +then at Calvary. + +And there it seemed to have succeeded. At last the light was shut in and +down; the door was shut and barred and bolted. And I suppose there was +great glee in the headquarters of darkness. But the Third Morning came. +And the bars of darkness were broken, as a woman breaks the +sewing-cotton at the end of the seam. The Light could not be held down +by darkness. It broke out more brightly than ever. The darkness couldn't +shut the light out. And it can't. + +_Let the light shine._ Let it shine out through the clear clean glass +of an unselfish, Jesus-cleansed Jesus-fired life lived for Him in the +commonplace round, and the shut-away corner. _And the darkness will go_. +The darkness cannot shut out the light, nor keep it down, nor resist the +gentle resistless power of its soft clear flooding. Let the Light shine +down in that corner where you are. And the darkness, darkness that can +be felt, and _is_ felt so sorely deep down in your spirit, in its +uncanny Egyptian blackness, that darkness will break, and more, clear, +and go, go, go, till it's clear gone. + +And so ends John's first great paragraph. It is so tremendous in its +simplicity that, Greek-like, men stumble over its simple tremendousness. +Away back in the beginning God revealed Himself in making a home for +man, and in bringing the man, made in His own image, to his home. And +then when the damp unwholesome darkness came stealing in swamping the +home and man He came Himself, flooding in the soft clear pure light of +His presence, to free man from the darkness and woo him out into the +light. + + + +Tarshish or Nineveh? + + +Then John goes on into his second paragraph. "_There came a man, sent +from God, whose name was John_." Why? Because man was in the dark. He +sent a man to help a man. He used a man to reach a man. He always does. +Run clear through this old Book of God, and then clear through that +other Book of God--the book of life, and note that this is God's habit. +He, Himself, uses the path He had made for human feet. With greatest +reverence let it be said that God _must_ use a human pathway for His +feet. + +Even when He would redeem a world He came, He must needs come, as a Man, +one of ourselves. He touches men through men. The pathway of His helping +feet is always a common human pathway. And, will you mark keenly that +_the highest level any life ever reaches_, or _can_ reach, is this: _to +be a pathway for the feet of a wooing winning God_. + +And this is still true. It is meant to be true to-day that there came a +man, sent from God, whose name is--_your name_. You put in your own name +in that sentence, then you get God's plan for you. For as surely as this +particular John of the desert and of the plain living, and the burning +speech, was sent by God, so surely is every man of us a man sent by God +on some particular errand. And the greatest achievement of life is to +find and fit into the plan of God for one's life. This is the only great +thing one can do. Anything else is merely _labelled_ "great." And that +label washes off. This is the one thing worth while. + +The bother is we don't always get the verbs, the action words, of that +sentence straight. John was a man _sent_ from God. And he _came_. All +men are sent But they don't all come, some _go_; go their own way. There +was a man sent from God whose name was Jonah. But he didn't come. He +went. He was sent to Nineveh on the extreme east. He went towards +Tarshish on the extreme west; just the opposite direction. Every man is +headed either for Nineveh or Tarshish, God's way or his own. Which way +are you headed? + +Some of us go to Tarshish _religiously_. We go our own way, and sing +hymns and pray, to make it seem right and keep from hearing the inner +voice. We hold meetings at the boat-wharf, while waiting for the +Tarshish ship to lift anchor. We have services in the steerage and +second-class and distribute tracts and New Testaments; but all the time +we're headed for Tarshish; our way, not God's. It won't do simply to do +good. We must do God's will. Find that and fit into it. + +The meetings and tracts are only good but they ought to be on the train +to Nineveh, and in Nineveh where God's sent you. Are you berthed on the +boat for Tarshish? or have you a seat engaged on the train for Nineveh? +going your own way? or God's? John was _sent_ and he _came_. You and I +are sent. Are we coming or going? coming God's way? or, going our own? + + + +Living Martyrs. + + +This true-hearted burning man of the deserts _came for a witness_. Here +we strike one of John's great words. You remember the three things that +_witness_ means? that you know something; that you tell what you know; +and that you tell it most with your life. And telling it _with your +life_ means, not only by the way you live, but, too, even though the +telling of it _may cost you your life_. It came to mean all of that with +this witness. + +It came to mean that with a new fullness of meaning, a peculiar +significance, to _the great Witness_, of whom John told. This was the +very throbbing heart of the wooing errand. This explains the tenderness +and tenacity of the Lover in His wooing in the midst of intensest +opposition, and in spite of it. + +The opposition brought about the terrific grouping of circumstances +which the great Lover-witness used as the tremendous climax of both +wooing and witnessing. No one doubts the reality of Jesus' witness to +the Father's love before men. And no one, who has had any touch at all +with Him, doubts the tremendous pull upon one's heart of such a wooing +appeal as that Calvary climax of witnessing made, and makes. + +And this, mark it keenly, is still the plan. "The-same-came-for-witness" +is meant to be true of each follower of the Christ. This is to be the +dominant underchording of all our lives. This is to be the never-absent +motive gripping us, and our possessions and our plans. The rest is +incidental in a true life. + +It may be a "rest" that takes most of the waking hours with most of us, +most of our strength and thought. But there's an undercurrent in every +life. And the undercurrent is the controlling current. It makes us what +we really are. It may be quite different from the upper current +controlled by the outer necessities of circumstances. And with the true +Jesus-man _this_ is the undercurrent, this thing of witnessing. + +Do you know something of Jesus? Do you know the cleansing of His blood? +Do you know the music of His peace in your heart? Do you know a bit of +the subtle fragrance of His presence? Do you know the power of His Name +when temptations come, when the road gets slippery, and your feet go out +from under you--almost. Then His Name, its power, and you hold steady. +Do you know something about such things? + +Then _tell_ it. This is the plan--_telling_. It's a Gospel of _telling_. +Tell it with your lips tactfully, gently, boldly, earnestly. But tell it +far more, and most with your life. Let what you are, when you're not +thinking about this sort of thing, let that tell it. That's the greatest +telling, the best. + +And, softly, now, when you get to the end of telling what you know, +listen quietly, don't go to digging into books for something to tell +your class or the meeting or the crowd. Don't do that. Books have their +place, good books, but it's always a sharply secondary place, or third, +or lower down yet. Poor crowd that must be fed on retailed books worked +over! Don't do that. _Know more._ Know Jesus better. Trust Him more +fully. Risk more on following where He clearly leads. Then you can tell +more and better. + +Sometimes I'm asked, "How can I have more faith?" Well, not by thinking +about your faith. Not by books or definitions chiefly, however they may +help some. I can tell you how: _Follow where the Master's quiet voice is +clearly calling._ Go where it is plain to you that that pierced hand is +leading. + +"Ah! but the way is a bit narrow," you think. "And it's steep. There are +sharp-edged stones under foot. And those bushes are growing rank on both +sides narrowing the path. And thorns scratch and hurt and sting. This +other road where I am now--this is a good Christian road. My Christian +brothers are here. I'd rather stay here." + +And so you _stay_. You don't _say_ "no" to the calling voice. You simply +_act_ "no." No wonder you get confused and tangled. It's only in the +path of following clear leading that there comes sweetest peace, with no +nagging doubts and mental confusion. There only will you have more +faith, know more of Him, touch with whom is the realest faith. And so +only will the witness be told out to the crowd on the street of your +life, of the power and satisfying peace of this Jesus. + +This is the witnessing we're sent to do. And the crowds crowd to listen, +when it's given. This is the way _the_ Witness did. He followed the +clear Father-voice, though the road led straight across the regular +roads through thorn hedges and thick underbrush. Should not the servant +tread it still? + +The word that John uses here underneath our English word _witness_ is +the word from which our English word _martyr_ comes. And martyr has +come to mean one who gives his life clear out in a violent way for the +truth he believes. But, do you know, that is easy. "Easy?" You say, +"Surely not, you're certainly wrong there." No, you are right. It is not +easy. To face a storm of lead, or feel the sharp-edged blade, or yield +to the eating flame,--that is never easy. + +But this is what I mean. There's the heroic in it, and that helps. You +brace yourself for it. The terrible crisis comes. You pull together and +pray and resolutely, desperately, face it. A little while, and it's +over. You've been true in the sharp crisis. You have taken a place with +the noble army of martyrs. And we who hear of it have a martyr's halo +about your head. + +But there's something immensely harder to do. Without making a whit less +than it is the splendid courage of martyrdom, there's something that +takes immensely more courage, and a deeper longer-seasoned heroism, and +that is to be a _living_ martyr, to bear the simple true witness +tactfully but clearly, when it takes the very life of your life to do +it, though it doesn't take your bodily life in a violent way. + +You know they don't martyr people these days for their Christian faith. +At least not in the western half of the earth, the Christian hemisphere. +No, that's quite behind the calendar. That's rather crude, quite behind +the cultured advanced Christian progress of _our_ day. Our Christian +civilization has gone long strides beyond that. We have grown much more +refined. Now we kill them _socially_. Many a one who would live true to +the Jesus-ideals in daily life in a simple sane way finds certain social +doors shut and carefully barred. + +We kill them _commercially_ now. The man who will quietly hew to the +Jesus-line in business is quite apt to find his income reduced. The bulk +of business shrinks. The thermometer is run down below the living point. +We kill men by _frost_ now. The blockade system is skilfully used; +isolation and insulation from certain circles. We are much more refined. + +The great need to-day is of _living_ witnesses to the Christ in home, +and social circle, in the street, and in the market-place. + + "So he died for his faith; that is fine, + More than the most of us do. + But stay, can yon add to that line + That he _lived_ for it, too? + + "It's easy to die. Men have died + For a wish or a whim-- + From bravado or passion or pride. + Was it hard for him? + + "But to live: every day to live out + All the truth that he dreamt, + While his friends met his conduct with doubt, + And the world with contempt. + + "Was it thus that he plodded ahead, + Never turning aside? + Then we'll talk of the life that he led" + Even more than the death that he died. + + + +The Forgotten Preacher. + + +With a simplicity in sticking to his main point, John goes quietly on: +"_that he might be a witness of the light_." That's rather interesting. +It was of the _light_ he was to bear witness; not of himself. It was not +the technical accuracy of his work, not its scholarliness and skill that +absorbed him, but that the _crowd got the light_. Rather striking that, +when you break away from the atmosphere round about, and think into it a +bit. + +Here's a man walking down a country road. It's a hot day. The road's +dusty. He gets a bit weary and thirsty. He comes across a bit of a +spring by the side of the road. Clear cool water it is. And some one has +thoughtfully left a tin-cup on a ledge of rock near by. And the man +gratefully drinks and goes on his way refreshed. He quite forgets the +tin-cup. + +Sometimes the tin-cup seems to require much attention, up in the corner +of the world where my tent is pitched. It has to be handled very +carefully and considerately if one is to get what possible drops of +water it may contain. The human tin-cup seems to bulk very big in the +drinking process, sometimes, in my corner of the planet. It is +silver-plated sometimes; just common tin under the plating. There's some +fine engraving on the silver-plating, noble sentiment, deftly expressed, +and done in the engraver's best style. But the water is apt to be +scanty, the drops rather few, in this sort of tin-cup. It's a bit +droughty. + +And sometimes even this has been known to occur: they have associations +of these human tin-cups for self-admiration and other cultural purposes. +And they have highly satisfactory meetings. But meanwhile, ah! look! +hold still your heart, and look here. There's the crowd on the street, +hot dusty street, exhausted, actually fainting for want of water, just +good plain water of life. But there's none to be had; only tin-cups! +John was eager to have men get a good drink. He was content as he +watched them drink, and their eyes lighten. He was discontent and +restless with anything else or less. + +Do you remember the greatest compliment ever paid John, John the Herald? +John was a great preacher. He had great drawing power. To-day we +commonly go where people are hoping they'll stay while we talk to them. +But John did otherwise. He went down to the Jordan bottoms, where the +spirit ventilation was better, and called the people to him. And they +came. They came from all over the nation, of every class. Literally +thousands gathered to hear John. He had great drawing power. + +And then something happened. Here is John to-day talking earnestly to +great crowds down by the river-road. And here he is again to-morrow; but +where are the crowds? John has lost his crowd. Same pulpit out in the +open air, same preacher, same simple intense message burning in his +heart, but--no congregation! The crowd's gone. Poor John! You must feel +pretty bad. It's hard enough to fail, but how much harder after +succeeding. Poor John, I'm so sorry for you. + +But if you get close enough to John to see into his eye you quit talking +like that. And if you get near enough to hear you find your sympathy is +not needed. For John's eye is ablaze with a tender light, and the sound +of an inner heart music reaches your ear as you get near him. And if you +follow, as you instinctively do, the line of the light in his eye you +quickly look down the road. + +Oh! There's John's crowd. _They're listening to Jesus._John's crowd has +left him for his Master. And the forgotten preacher is the finest +evidence of the faithfulness of the preacher. The crowd's getting the +water, sweet cool refreshing water of life, direct from the fountain. +They've clean forgotten the faithful common tin-cup. And John's so glad. +John came that he might bear witness of _the light_. And he did. And the +crowd heard. And they flocked to the light. + +Here's a man preaching. And the people are listening. The benediction is +pronounced. And they go out. And as they move slowly out they're +talking, always talking. We don't seem yet to have demitted our +privilege of talking after service. Here are two. Listen to them. "Isn't +he a great preacher? so scholarly, so eloquent, so polished; and all +those classical allusions. I didn't understand half he said; he +certainly is a great preacher. We're very fortunate in such a man." + +And the preacher, whoever he be, may know this for a bit of the +certainty that occasionally _will_ sift in. He may be a scholar. I +wouldn't question it. And a polished orator. I wouldn't question that. +But in the main thing, the one thing he's for, as a _Jesus-witness_, he +is a splendid scholarly polished failure. Men are talking about _him_. + +They've forgotten his Master, if indeed--ah, yes, if indeed he _have_ a +Master! He has a _Saviour_, let us earnestly hope, and willingly +believe. But a _Master_! One that sweeps and sways his mind and culture +and life like the strong wind sweeps the thin young saplings in the +storm--clearly he knows nothing of that. Men are talking of _him_. + +And here's another talking a bit It may be just a simple homely talk. Or +he may likewise be scholarly and eloquent. A man should bring his best. +The old classic is beaten oil for the lamps of the sanctuary. But +there's the soft burning fire of the real thing in his message. And the +people feel it. The air seems a-thrill with its quiet tensity. And the +last amen is said. And again they go out. + +And here are two walking down the road together, and as they come to the +cross-street, one says to his companion, "Excuse me, please, I have to +go down _this_ way." And the "have-to" is the have-to of an intense +desire to get off alone. And as he goes down the side street he's +talking, but--to himself. Listen to him: "I'm not the man I ought to be, +I wonder if Jesus is really like he said. I wonder if the thing's really +so. I believe--yes, I really think I'll risk it. My life isn't like it +should be. I'll risk trying this Jesus-way. I'll do it." + +The man's clean forgotten the speaker. Oh, yes, he remembers the tone of +the voice, and the look of the face, but indistinctly, far away. He's +face-to-face with Jesus! And the forgotten speaker is the finest +evidence of the faithfulness of his speaking. He is holding up the +light. And men run into the light. They've clean forgot the little tin +candlestick, they are so taken up with the light it holds. + + + +The One Thing to Aim At. + + +And John keeps driving in on the point in his mind: "_that all might +believe through Him_"; that they might listen, stop to think, agree as +to the thing being believable, then trust it; then trust _Him_, the +Light, risk something, risk, _themselves_ to _Him_, then love, love with +a passionate devotion. This was John's objective. It was the bull's-eye +of his target never out of his keen Spirit-opened eye. Nothing else +figured in. + +This is _the_ thing in all our living and serving and doing and giving, +_that men may know Jesus_ to the trusting, risking, loving point, the +glad point. Everything that we can bring of gold and learning and labour +and skill is precious, it is as purest gold, _if_ it lead men into +heart-touch with Jesus. And it clean misses the mark if it does less. + +Who would be content to give a Belgian or Polish starveling a bare bit +of bread, and a lonely stick of wood, and a rag of cloth. Bite and stick +and cloth are good, but it's a _meal_ and a _fire_, and some _clothing_, +the man wants. And you have both ready at hand. _Things_ are good, +provided by money and skill and research and painstaking efforts. They +_do_ good. But it's Jesus men need. It's the warm touch that lets _Him_ +fully in with all of His human sympathy and all of His God-power, that's +what they need. + +Given the sun and quickly come warmth and food and shelter, health and +vigour and increase of life. Given Jesus, and the warm touch with Him, +in His simple fullness, just as He is, and surely and not slowly, there +come flooding in all the rest of an abundant life, physical and mental +and of the spirit. + +John "_was not the light_." He was only the candlestick. And he was +content to be that. He was a good candlestick. The light was held up. It +could shine out. How grateful the crowd was. The road had been so dark. +It is a bad thing when light and candlestick change places. The crowd +seems to get the two confused sometimes. We get to thinking that the +candlestick is the light, and the light is--lost sight of. We gather +about the candlestick. It'll surely lead the way out through the dark +night into day. It's such a good candlestick, so highly polished. And +sometimes the human candlestick itself gets things a bit mixed. It +thinks, then it feels, then it knows, with a peculiar quality of +self-assertive certainty, that after all _it_ is the light that +lighteth every one that is so blessed as to come within the radius of +its shining. And brass does take a high polish, and makes an attractive +appearance. It does send out a sparkle and radiance _if_ only it is +somewhere within range of some real light, patient enough to keep on +shining in the dark, regardless of non-appreciation or misrepresentation +or misunderstanding. + +Is it any wonder the road is so full of people wandering in the night +gathered about candlesticks? Is it surprising that the ditches are so +full of men and candlesticks mixed up and mired up together? Yet it is +always heart-breaking. There may be talent and training of the highest +and best, and scholarship and culture, eloquence and skill, institutions +and philanthropies. And there is so much of these. And these are good in +themselves, and of priceless practical worth when seen and held in their +right relation to _the_ thing. + +But it needs to be said often and earnestly: _these are not the light_. +They are given to point men better to the Light. They're road-signs, +index-fingers. And they are seen at their best when they point to the +Light so clearly that the crowd quite forgets them in hastening to the +Light they point out. They serve their true purpose in being so +forgotten. They are still serving and serving best even while forgotten. + + + +The Real Thing of Light. + + +And John goes on to intensify yet more what he is thinking and saying: +_there was the true light_, _the real thing of light_. They were +bothered, in John's old age when he is writing, with false lights, +make-pretend lights, that led people astray. Every generation seems to +have been so bothered and confused. And even our own doesn't seem to +have entirely escaped the subtle contagion. The ground is a bit swampy +in places, boggy. + +Low-lying land runs to bog and swamp. And the air gets thick with heavy +vapours. And strange will-of-the-wisp lights form out of the foul damp +gasses, and they flit about in the gloom this way and that. And people +are led astray by them deeper into swamp and bog. It's surprising to +find how many, that grow up in well-lit neighbourhoods, wander off after +the swamp lights, and even follow them so contentedly. That's partly +due, without doubt, to the false lights borrowing so much of the mere +outer incidentals from the true. And they succeed in producing a make-up +that easily deceives the unwary and untaught. + +There's a teaching to-day, for instance, that magnifies bodily healing. +The name of Christ is freely used. And the old Book of God freely +quoted. And men are really healed. There can be no question of that. +There are sufficient facts at hand to make that incontestably clear. + +But bodily healing does not necessarily argue divine power. There are +results secured through the operation of unfamiliar mental powers that +seem miraculous. And clearly there are devilish miracles as well as +divine. Miracles simply reveal a supernatural power, that is, a power +above the ordinary workings of nature. Then one must apply a touchstone, +a test, to learn what that power is. + +It is striking that in this teaching I speak of now there is never +mention of the atoning blood of Christ. And this is the sure touchstone +by which to detect the real thing of light and the make-believe. The +outstanding thing in the life of Christ is His death, and the tremendous +meaning which His own teaching put into that fact of His death. + +There is none of the red tinge to this make-believe light. It has the +unwholesome unnatural tingeing of swamp lights. And those who are healed +through this teaching will find themselves in a bondage the more +terrible because so subtle. And only the power of the blood of Christ +can ever break that bondage. + +There was the real thing of light. Here _is_ the real thing of light. +There's a distinct tingeing of red in it. It's the only light. It only +is the light. Every other is a make-pretend light, however subtle its +imitations and reflections: it will lead only into swamp and bog and +ditch and worse. + +And then John goes on to add a very simple bit that has not always been +quite understood in its simplicity. There was the real thing of light +_that lighteth every man that cometh into the world_. There is a little +group of varied readings into the English here, found in the margin of +the various revisions. But the central statement remains the same. +Whether John is saying that the light, that lighteth every man, was now +coming down into the world in a closer way. Or, that every man is +lighted as _he_ comes into the world, the chief thing being told is the +same. Every man in the world is lighted by this Light. + +Through nature, the nightly twinklers in the wondrous blue overhead, the +unfailing freshness of the green out of the brown under foot; through +the never-ceasing wonders of these bodies of ours, so awesomely and +skilfully made, and kept going; through that clear quiet inner voice +that does speak in every human heart amidst all the noises of earth and +of passion; through these the light _is_ shining, noiselessly, softly, +endlessly, by day and night. + +It is the same identical light that John is telling us of here that so +shines in upon every man, and always has. There is no light but His. His +later name is Jesus. From the first, and everywhere still, it is the +light that shines from Him that lights men. He was with the Father in +the beginning. He acted for the Father in that creation week. He gave +and sustained all life of every sort everywhere, and does, though only a +third of us know His later, nearer, newer Name--Jesus. + +But the light was obscured, terribly beclouded and bedimmed, hindered by +earth-fogs, and swampy clouds rising up, until we are apt to think there +was no light, and is none; only darkness. Then He came closer, and yet +closer. He came in nearer form so as to get the light closer, and let +it shine _through_ fog and cloud, for the sake of the befogged, +beswamped crowd. + +And then--ah! hold your heart still--_then_ He let _the_ Light-holder, +the great human Lantern, be _broken_, utterly broken, that so the light +might flash out through broken lantern in its sweet soft wondrous +clearness into our blinded blinking eyes, and show us the real way back +home. It was in that breaking that it got that wondrous exquisite red +tingeing that becomes the unfailing hall-mark, the unmistakable evidence +of the real thing of light. + +And it's only as men know of this latest coming of the light, this +tremendous tragic Jesus-coming of the light, that they can come into the +full light. That's the reason He came in the way He did. That's the +reason when He gets possession of us there's the passion to take the +full Jesus-light out to every one. And this passion burns in us and +through us, and ours, and sweeps all in the sweep of its tender holy +flame. In this way every man may be fully lit, and so in following the +Jesus-light he shall not walk in the darkness where he has been, but in +the sweet clear light of life. + + + +Looking for Recognition. + + +Then we come to the first of John's heart-breaking sentences. John had a +hard time writing his Gospel. He was not simply writing a book. That +might have been fairly easy for him with his personal knowledge and all +the facts so familiar. But he is telling about his dearest Friend. And +the telling makes his heart throb harder, and his eyes fill up, and the +writing look dim to him, as he tries to put the words down. + +Listen: _He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and +the world recognized, or rather acknowledged, Him not._ It was His +world, His child, His creation. He had made it. But it failed to +acknowledge Him. He came walking down the street of life. He met the +world going the other way. And He gave it a warm good-morning greeting. +And it knew Him full well. It knew who He was. But it turned its face +aside and walked by with no return greeting. This is what John is +saying. It recognized, it acknowledged Him not. + +You mothers know the glad hour that comes in a mother's life when her +little babe of the wee weeks knows her _for the first time._ She's busy +bathing or nursing, or, she's just hovering over the precious morsel of +humanity when there's really nothing needing to be done. And the babe's +eyes catch her own and _a smile comes,_ the first smile of recognition. +And the mother-heart gives a glad leap. She murmurs to herself, "Oh, +baby knows me!" + +And when the father comes home that night she greets him with, "Baby +knew me to-day." And there's a soft bell-like tender ring in her voice +that vibrates on the strings of his heart. And all the folks within +range are advised of the day's event. And the mother clear forgets all +the sharp-cutting pain back there just a little before, in this joy, +this look of recognition. + +I knew of a woman. She was of an old family, of unusual native gift, and +rare accomplishment. And her babe came. And the time came when +ordinarily there would be that first sweet look of recognition, but--_it +didn't come._ There was a defect; something not as it should be. And you +mothers all know how she felt, yes, and you true fathers, too. She was +heart-broken. And she turned aside from all the busy round of activity +in which she had been the natural leader. And for years she devoted all +her splendid talents, her strength and time, to just one thing, a very +simple thing; only this,--_getting a look of glad recognition out of two +babe-eyes._ + +_He_ looked into the face of His child, His world, for the look of +recognition. But there was none. And He was heart-broken. And He devoted +all His strength and time, Himself, for those human years to--what? One +thing, just one thing, a very simple thing, only this: to getting a look +of recognition out of the eyes of His child. + +Aye, there's more yet here. He _looks_ into our faces, eager for that +simple direct answering look into His face and out of our eyes, yours +and mine. And we give Him--things, church-membership, orthodox belief, +intense activity, aggressive missionary propaganda, money in good +measure, tireless, and then tired-out service--_things!_ And all good +things. But _the_ thing, the direct look into His own face answering His +own hungry searching look, that look in the face that reveals the inner +heart that He _waits_ for so often, and waits, a bit sore at heart. + +For you know the eye is the face of the face. It's the doorway into the +soul, out through which the soul, the man within, looks. I look at you, +the man inside here looks out at you through my eye. And I look at the +real you down through your eye. The real man is hidden away within, but +looks out through the eye and is looked at only through the eye. We +really give ourselves to Jesus in the look direct into His face which +tells Him all, and through which He transforms us. + + + +A Heart-breaking Verse. + + +Then comes John's second heart-breaking verse; but it is just a bit more +heart-breaking in what it says. Listen: _He came to His own home, and +they that were His own kinsfolk received Him not into the house but kept +Him standing out in the cold and storm of the wintry night._ + +One of you men goes home to-night. It's your own home, shaped on your +own personality through the years. It's a bit late. You've had a long +hard day. You're tired. It's stormy. The wind and the rain chill you as +you turn the corner. And you pull your coat a bit snugger as you quicken +your steps and think of home, warmth and comfort, loved ones, and rest +for body and spirit, too. + +As you come to the door you reach for your latch-key, and find, in the +busy rush, you seem to have forgotten it, somehow. So you ring the bell +or knock. And suppose--be patient with me a bit, please. Suppose your +loved ones know you're there. You even see a hand drawing aside the edge +of the window shade, and two eyes that you know so well peer out through +the crack at you; then the shade goes to again. Yes, they know you're +there. But the door, your own door, doesn't open. How would you feel? + +And some one says to himself, "That's not a good illustration. That +thing couldn't happen. It isn't natural." No: you're right. It _isn't_ +natural. It could not happen to _you_. I am sure it could not happen to +_me_. If it could I'd be heart-broken. _But this is what happened to +Him!_ This is what John is saying here. He came to His own front door, +and they whose very image revealed their close kinship to Him, received +Him not into the home, but kept the door fast in His face. + +Then there's a later translation. This old King James version bears the +date of 1611, I think. And the English Revision is dated 1881, I +believe. And this American Standard Revision I am using has 1901 on its +title page. But there's a later revision. It bears a yet later date, +1915, April 27. But it is a shifting date. Each translator fixed his own +date. + +This latest translation runs something like this: He _comes_ to His own. +That's you and myself. We belong to Him. He gave His breath to us in +Eden. He gave His breath to you and me at our birth. He gave His blood +for us on Calvary. We belong to Him. The image of His kinship is stamped +upon us. We may not acknowledge it, but that can't change the fact. + +_He comes to His own, and His own_--and here, as the scholars would say, +there are variant readings. Let me give you one or two I have found. +Here is one: He comes to His own, and His own--puts a chair outside the +door on the top-step. It's a large armchair with a cushion in, perhaps. +And then His own talks about Him through the crack of the door, or +likelier, the window. It's reckoned safer to keep the door fast. + +Listen to what he says: "He's a wonderful man this Jesus; great teacher, +the greatest; the greatest man of the race; His philosophy, His moral +standards are the ideals; wonderful life; great example." They fairly +exhaust the language in talking about this Man. But notice. It seems a +bit queer. The man they're talking _about_ is _outside the door_. His +own claim is left severely outside. + +Some make it read like this: He comes to His own, and they who are His +own open the door a _crack_, maybe a fairly respectably wide crack. We +all like the word _Saviour_. Yes, we cling tenaciously to that. +Selfishly, would you say? We want to be saved from a certain place we +think of as _down_, that we've been taught about, and don't want to go +to--_if it's there;_ the way men talk about it to-day. + +And we want to be saved into another certain place we think of as _up_, +and where we surely want to go _after_ we get through down on the +earth, and _must_ go away somewhere else; with that "after" and "must" +carefully underscored. And we want to be saved from all the +inconveniences possible along the way, and to secure all the advantages +and help available: yes, yes, open the door a crack. + +But be careful about the width of the opened crack. Let it be just the +proper conventionalized width. Let there be no extremeism about the +wideness of that opening. Things must be proper. For what would the +other crack-open-door-owners think? + +And then, too, yet more serious, this Jesus has a way, a most +inconsiderate way of coming in as far as you let Him, and of taking +things into His own hands. Certain people use that word +"inconsiderate"--to themselves, in secret. Jesus changes some things +when He is allowed all the way in. He might change your personal habits, +your home arrangements, some of your social customs and your business +plans. + +Of course He changes only what needs changing, as He sees it. +But--then--you--well, some things can be carried _too far_--to suit +_you_. This Jesus has the _all_ habit. He contracted it when He was down +on the earth. Our needs grew the habit. He _gave_ all. And He has a way +of coming in all the way, and of reaching in His pierced hand and +_taking_ all. + +He might even put His hand in on that most sacred thing, that holiest of +all, that you guard most jealously--that box. It has heavy hinges, and +double padlocks, and the keys are held hard under the thumb of your +will. Of course there may really not be much in it; and again there may +be very much. But much or little, it is securely kept under that thick +broad thumb of yours. + +Oh! you _give_; of _course_; yes, yes, we're all good proper Christian +folk here. We give a tenth, and even much more. We support an aggressive +missionary propaganda. That's the thing, you know, in our day, for good +church people. We give to all the good things. Ye-es, no doubt. And we +are very careful, too, that that _inconsiderate_ Hand shall not disturb +the greater bulk that remains between hinge and lock. That's _yours_. Of +course you are _His_, redeemed, saved by His blood. + +Well, well, how these pronouns, "His," "ours," do get mixed up! How +lovely some things are to _sing_ about, in church, and special services, +at Keswick and Northfield. But through it all we hold hard to that key, +we don't let go--_even to Him_, though it is He who entrusts all to our +temporary keeping. We do guard the width of that opening crack, do we +not? + +One day I looked through that crack and caught a glimpse of _His face_ +looking through full in my own, with those eyes of His. And at first I +wanted to take the door clear off of its hinges and stand it outside +against the bricks, and leave the whole door-space wide for Him. + +But I've learned better. No man wants to leave the doorway of his life +unguarded. He must keep the strong hand of his controlling purpose on +the knob of the front door of his life. There are others than He, evil +ones, cunningly subtle ones, standing just at the corner watching for +such an opportunity. And they step quickly slyly in under your untaught +unsuspicious eyes, and get things badly tangled in your life. There's a +better, a stronger way. + +Here's the personal translation that I try now, by His help, to work out +into living words, the language of life. He comes to His own, and His +own opens the door wide, and _holds_ it wide open, that He may come in +all the way, and cleanse, and change, readjust, and then shape over on +the shape of His own presence. + +But every one must work out his own translation of that; and every one +does. And the crowd reads--not this printed version. It reads this other +translation, the one nearest, in such big print, the one our lives work +out daily. That's the translation they prefer. And that's the +translation they're being influenced by, and influenced by tremendously. + + + +He Came to His Own. + + +In certain circles in England, they tell of a certain physician years +ago. He came of a very humble family. His father was a gardener on a +gentleman's estate. And the father died. And the mother wasn't able to +pay her son's schooling. But a storekeeper in the village liked this +little bright boy and sent him to school. And he went on through the +higher schooling, became a physician, and began his practice in London. +He became skilled, and then famous, and then wealthy. + +He remembered his dear old mother, of course. He sent her money, and +fabrics for dresses, and wrote her. But for a long time, in the busy +absorption of his life, he had not been to see her. And the dear old +mother in the little cottage in the country lived in the sweet +consciousness that her son was a great physician up in the great London. +He was her chief topic of conversation. When the neighbours were in she +would always talk of her son, her Laddie, she called him. + +"He's so good to me, my Laddie is. He sends me money. I put it in the +bank. He sends me cloth for dresses; it's quite too good for a plain +body like me. And he writes me letters, such good letters, wonderful +letters. But he's so busy up there, that he hasn't been to see me for a +long time now. You know he's a great doctor now, and he has great skill, +and there are so many needing him. And he's no time at all, even for +himself, I expect. But"--she would always finish her talk as they sat +over the tea by saying, half to herself, really more to herself than to +the little group, with a half-repressed longing sigh, "but, I wish, I +just _wish_ I could _see_ my _Laddie_." + +Then some changes took place on the estate. And the cottage where she +had lived so long must be given up. And the dear old woman had to make +new plans. And she cudgeled her old head, and thought, and at last she +said to herself, "I know what I'll do. I'll go-up to London, and I'll +live with Laddie. He'll be so glad to have me." And bright-coloured +visions flitted through her mind, as she sat over her tea by the open +grate. But she wouldn't send him word; no, no, she would surprise him, +and add to his pleasure. + +And the dear old soul, in her fine simplicity, did not think into what +this would mean, nor of the difference that had grown up with the years, +in manner of life, between her son and herself. He was a cultured +gentleman, with his well-appointed city home, and the circle of friends +that had grown up about him. And she was a simple uncultured country +woman with a broad provincial twist on her tongue. But she was +blissfully unconscious of this. She would go and live with her Laddie. +It would be so delightful for them both. + +And so she went. It was her first train journey, and quite a time of it +she had finding the house. But at last she stands looking up at the +house. "Ugh! does my Laddie live here! in this great mansion?" But there +was the name on the door-plate. There was no mistaking that. And so she +rang the bell. "Is the doctor in?" She could hardly get the word +"doctor" out. She had never called him that before, just Laddie. But now +she must say it. "Is the doctor in?" And the word almost stuck in her +throat as she thought to herself, "This poor man opening the door +doesn't know that the 'doctor' really belongs to _me_." + +But in a hard voice the servant said that it was past the hours. She +couldn't see the doctor. + +"Ah! bat," she said, quite taken by surprise at being held there, "I +_must_ see him." + +"But, I tell you, it's quite too late to see him to-day." + +But she resolutely put her stout country-boot in the crack of the door, +and her English jaw set in true English fashion, and she said with that +quietness that has the subtle touch of danger in it, "I'll see the +doctor." + +And the servant looked puzzled and went to report about this strangely +insistent woman. And the doctor was annoyed by the interruption in the +midst of something that was absorbing him. He said sharply, "It's past +the hours; I can see no one." + +"I told her so, sir," replied the man deferentially, "but she insists in +a strange way, sir." + +"What's she like?" + +"Oh, just a plain country body, sir." + +"Well, show her up." + +And I am glad to remember that she had a warm embrace of his strong +arms, as he instantly recognized her in the doorway, while the servant +stared. Then he said rather nervously as the servant discreetly +withdrew, "How did yon happen to come? Why didn't you send word? Has +anything happened?" And then as she sat by the fire sipping a cup of +tea, she told the story, in her own simple slow way, and ended up with, +"And now I'm coming to live with you, Laddie." And the old eyes behind +the spectacles beamed, and the dear old wrinkled face glowed. + +And he poked the fire, and tried to think You know, our English friends +depend almost wholly on the open grate fire, as we do so largely in the +South. And it's a great thing, is the open grate fire. It's a fire. It +warms your body, at least in front in extreme weather. But it's more +than a fire. It's a stimulus to thought. It refreshes your spirit, and +rests your tired nerves, and it is a wonderful thing to help you unravel +knotty problems. So he poked the fire and thought, while she, quite +unconscious of his embarrassment, went on sipping her tea and talking. + +It would never do to have her come there, he thought. And his thoughts +went to the circle of friends at the dinner table in the evening, and to +the critical city servants that ran his bachelor establishment. And just +then his ear caught anew the broad provincial twist on her tongue. He +had never noticed it so broad, so decided, before. And she was talking +the small countryside talk, chickens and an epidemic among them. And +that grated strangely. It certainly wouldn't do to have her come there. + +Then the tide began to rise gently on the beach of his heart. He +thought, "She's my _mother_. And if mother wants to come here, here she +comes." And he straightened up in his chair, as he gave a gentler touch +to a blazing lump of coal. Then the tide ebbed. It began running out +again. "No, it would hardly do." And he poked and thought. Finally he +broke into her run of talk. + +"Mother, you know it is not very healthful here. We have bad fogs in +London. And you're used to the wholesome country air. It wouldn't agree +with you here, I'm afraid. I'll get a little cottage on the edge of +town, and I'll come and see you very often." + +And the dear old woman _sensed_ at once just what he was thinking. She +was not stupid, if she was just a plain homely body. He got his brains +from his simple country mother, as many a man of note has done. But she +spoke not of what she felt. She simply said, with that quietness which +grows out of strong self-control: + +"It's a bit late the night, Laddie, I'm thinking, to be talking about +new plans." + +And he said softly, "Forgive me, mother: it is late, I forgot." And he +showed her to her sleeping apartment. + +"And where do you sleep, Laddie?" + +"Right here, mother, this first door on the left. Be sure to call me if +you need anything." + +And he bade her a tender "good-night," and went back to his study to do +some more thinking and planning. And very late he came up to his +sleeping-chamber. And he was just cuddling his head into the soft pillow +for the night, when the door opened, so softly, and in there came a +little body in simple white night garb, with a quaint old-fashioned +nightcap on, candle in hand. She came in very softly. And he started up. + +"Mother, are you ill? What's the matter?" + +And she came over very quietly, and put down the candle on the table +before she answered. And then softly: + +"No, no, Laddie, I'm not ill. I just came to tuck you in for the night +as I used to do at home. ... Lie still, my Laddie." + +And she tucked the clothes about his neck, and smoothed his hair, and +patted his cheek, and kissed his face. And she crooned over him as +mother with little child. The years were quite forgot. She had her +little son again. And she talked mother's love-talk to a child. +"Good-night, Laddie ... good-night ... good-night ... mother's own boy." +And a little more tucking and smoothing and patting and kissing, and +then she turned so quietly, picked up the candle, and went out, closing +the door so softly, her great strength revealed in her gentleness. + +And he was just on the point of starting up and saying, "Mother, you +must stay with me, right here"--no, the morning will do, he thought. But +when the morning came she wasn't down for breakfast. And when he went to +her room she wasn't there. It turned out afterwards that she had said to +herself, "It doesn't suit my Laddie's plans to have me here. I don't +understand why. It isn't his fault at all. It just doesn't suit. And +I'll never be a trouble to my Laddie." + +And so with that rare characteristic English trait of independence, she +had quietly gone off early that morning before the house was astir. And +he broken-hearted--I'm always glad to remember that--he searched through +the wilderness of London for more than a year, searched diligently, but +could find no trace of her. And then he was graciously permitted to +minister to her last hours in a hospital where a street accident had +sent her unconscious, and where he was chief of the medical staff. + +_She came to her own and her own received her not._ He loved her, but it +didn't suit his plans. _He, Jesus_, came to _His_ own, and His own +received Him not; it didn't suit their plans. Ah! listen yet further: He +_comes_ to His own, you and me, and His own--_you_ finish it. Have we +some plans, too, set plans, that we don't propose to change, even +for--(softly) even for _Him_? Each of us is finishing that sentence, not +in words so much if at all, in the words of our action. And the crowd +reads our translation. + + + +The Oldest Family. + + +"But," John goes on. That was a steadying "but." It was hard on John to +recall how they treated his Friend and Master. But there is a "but." +There's another aide, an offset to what he's been saying, a bright bit +to offset the black bit. But as many as did receive Him. Some received. +Jesus was rejected, yes, abominably, contemptibly rejected. But He was +also accepted, gladly, joyously, wholeheartedly accepted, even though +it came to mean pain and shame. + +_As many as received Him_, John says, _He received into His family_. The +conception of a family and of a home where the family lives, runs all +through underneath here. They would not receive this Jesus because He +didn't belong to the inner circle of the old families which they +represented. They regarded themselves as the custodians of the +exclusive aristocratic circles of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem was the upper +circle of Israel. + +And every one knew that Israel was the chiefest, the one uppermost +nation, of the earth, with none near enough to be classed second. They +were the favourites of God, all the rest were "dogs of Gentiles," +outsiders, not to be mentioned in the same breath. To these national +leaders of Jesus' day, this was the very breath of their life. + +"And _this Jesus_!" They spat on the ground to relieve the intensity of +their contempt. "Who was He? A peasant! a Galilean! Nazareth!" Nazareth +was put in as a sort of superlative degree of contempt. Of course, they +could easily have found out about the lineage of Jesus. In the best +meaning of the word, Jesus was an aristocrat. Apart from its +philological derivation that word means one who traces his lineage back +through a worthy line for a long way, and so one who has the noble +traits of such lineage. In the best meaning of the word Jesus was an +_aristocrat_. His line traced back without slip or break to the great +house of David, and that meant clear back to Adam. The records were all +there, carefully preserved, indisputable. They could easily have found +this out. + +I recall talking one day in London with a gentle lady of an old, titled +Scottish family, an earnest Christian, trained in the Latin Church. In +the course of the conversation she remarked, "Of course, Jesus was a +_peasant_." And I replied as gently as I could so as not to seem to be +arguing, "Of course, He was _not_ a peasant. He chose to _live_ as a +peasant, for a great strong purpose. But He was an aristocrat in blood. +His family line traced directly back through the noblest families clear +to the beginning. No one living had a longer unbroken lineage. And that +is the very essence of aristocracy." + +In some circles, they count much, or most, on old families. In certain +cities of our own country, east and south, this is reckoned as the +hall-mark of highest distinction. When one goes across the water to +England and the Continent, he finds the old families of America are +rather young affairs. And as he pushes on into the East, some of the old +families of Europe sometimes seem fairly recent. I remember in the +Orient running across a family where the father had been a Shinto +priest, father and son successively, through forty-five generations; and +another where the father of the family has been successively a +court-musician for thirty-eight generations. I thought maybe I had run +into some really old families at last. + +I come of a rather old family myself. It runs clear back without break +or slip to Adam in Eden. I've not bothered much with tracing it, for +there are some pretty plain evidences of ugly stains on the family +escutcheon, running all through, and repeatedly. And then even more than +that I've become intensely interested in another family, an older +family, the oldest family of all. Arrangements have been made whereby I +have been taken into this oldest family of all with full rights and +privileges. My claims to aristocracy are now of the very highest, with +all the noble obligations that go with it. That's what John is talking +of here. _As many as received Him, He received into His family, the +oldest family of all._ + +These people refused Jesus because He didn't belong to their set. In +their utterly selfish prejudice and wilful ignorance, these leaders shut +Him out from the circles they controlled. But with great graciousness He +received into His circle any, of any circle, high or low, who would +receive Him into their hearts. To as many as received Him into their +hearts He opened the door into His own family. He gave them the +technical right of becoming children of His Father. + +Their part of the thing is put very simply in two ways. They _believed_. +They were told, they listened and thought, they accepted as true, they +risked what they counted most precious, they loved. So they believed. +And so they _received._ The door opened, the inner door, the heart door. +He went in. That settled things for them. When He graciously entered +their hearts, the inner citadel of their lives, that settled their place +in this oldest family of all. + + + +How We Don't Get In, and How We Do. + + +It is of intensest interest in our day to have John go on to tell, in +his own simple taking way, just how we get into this God-family. First +of all, he tells us how we _don't_ get in. Listen: "_not of blood_," +that is, not by our natural generation; "_nor of the will of the +flesh_," that is, not by anything we can do of ourselves, though this +has a place, a distinctly secondary place; "_nor of the will of man_," +that is, not by what somebody else can do for us, though this too has +its place. + +These are the three "_nots_"; the three ways we are _not_ saved. And it +becomes of intensest interest to notice that these are the very three +ways that the crowd is emphasizing to-day, some this, others that, as +the way of being saved. The three modern words we commonly use for these +three "nots" of John are, _family, culture_, and _influence_. + +Some of us seem to be fully expecting to walk into the presence of God, +and to get all there is to be gotten there, because of the family we +belong to. This is probably stronger in some of us than we are conscious +of. It's a matter of blood with us, our blood, our natural generation. +We take greatest pride in showing what blood it is that runs in our +veins. We trace the line far back to those whose names are well known. +And this sort of thing has overpowering influence in our human affairs +down here. + +His gracious majesty King George is King of England, because he is the +child of Edward and Alexandra. His one and only claim to the English +throne is that at the time of accession he was their oldest living son. +But that won't figure a farthing's worth when he comes up to the +hearthfire of God's family. And I think he understands this full well. +I'm expecting to see him there; not as King of England, but as a +brother. + +It is not a matter of blood. It's a blessed thing to be well-born. It +makes a tremendous difference to have the blood of an old noble family +in one's veins, if it is good clean blood. But it'll never save us. +Salvation is not by lineal descent, not by family line. It is "not of +blood." John clears that ground. + +Some of us put great stress on what we are in ourselves. This looms big +with a great crowd scattered throughout the earth. We know so much. We +have gotten it by dint of hard work. We can do some things so skilfully. +We have worked into positions of great power among men. Our names are +known. Sometimes they are spelled in large letters. + +The broad word for this is _culture_, what we have gained and gotten by +our effort, of that which is reckoned good, and which _is_ good. Culture +is one of the chief words in our language to-day. Whether spelled the +English way or the German, it looms big. It is one of our modern +tidbits. It is chewed on much, and pleases our palate greatly. And +culture is good, if it is good culture. + +But, have you noticed, that you have to have a thing before you can +culture it? No amount of the choicest culture will get an apple out of a +turnip, nor a Bartlett pear out of a potato, nor make a Chinese into an +Englishman, nor an American into a Japanese. Culture can improve the +stock, but _it can't change it_. It takes some other power than culture +to change the kind. Here we have to be made of the same kind as they are +up in the old family of God. There must be a change at the core. Then +culture of that new stock is only good and blessed. + +This is John's second "not." It seems rather radical. It completely +undercuts so much of our present day notions. If John is right, some of +us are wrong, radically, dangerously wrong. Yet John had a wonderful +Teacher whom he lived with for a while. And after He had gone, John had +another Teacher, unseen but very real, who guided, especially in the +writing of the old Jesus-story. The whole presumption is in favour of +John's way of it being wholly right. And if that makes us wrong, we +would better be grateful to find it out _now_, while there's time to +change. Being saved is not a matter of what we can do, of our culture, +though this has its proper place. + +And some of us put tremendous stress to-day on _influence_, what we can +command from others, in furtherance of our desires. Influence is spelled +in biggest type and printed in blackest ink. Whether in political +matters at Washington or at London; in financial, whether Lombard Street +or Wall Street; or in the all-important social matters, or even in the +educational, the university world, the chief question is, "Whose +influence can you get?" "What name can you quote?" "Whose backing have +you?" Influence and culture are the twin gods to-day. The smoke of +their incense goeth up continuously. Their places of worship are +crowded, with bent knees and prostrate forms and reverential hush. + +Have you noticed that _Jesus_ hadn't enough influence with the officials +of His day to keep from the cross? No: but He had enough _power_ to +break the official emblem of earth's greatest authority, the Roman seal +on the Joseph tomb. Rather striking that; intensely significant for us +moderns. _Peter_ hadn't enough _influence_ with the authorities to keep +out of jail. Sounds rather disgraceful that, does it not? Aye, but he +had enough _power_ with God to open jail-doors and walk quietly out +against the wish of those highest in authority. + +Influence has its proper place. It's good, _if_ it is. But we are not +saved by it. We are not saved by what some one else can do for us; "not +of the will of man." Your mother's prayers and your wife's, and the +influence of their godly lives will have great weight. It's a great +blessing to have them. They help enormously. But the thing itself that +takes a man into the presence of God, saved and redeemed, is something +immensely more than this, some action of his own that goes to the roots +as none of these other things do. + +One time a deputation waited on Lincoln to press a matter of public +concern. But his keenly logical mind discerned flaws in their +impassioned and carefully worked out arguments. He waited patiently till +their case was complete. And then in that quiet way for which he was +famous, he said, "How many legs would a sheep have if you called its +tail a leg?" As he expected, they promptly answered "Five." "No," he +said, "it wouldn't; it would have only four. _Calling_ a tail a leg does +not make it one." So a simple bit of his homely sense and accurate logic +scattered their finely spun argument. + +Calling either family or culture or influence the chief thing doesn't +make it so. These are John's three tremendous "nots." They rather cut +straight across the common current of thought and belief and conduct +to-day. We may indeed be grateful if a single homely drop of black ink +from John's pen put into the beautifully cloudy-grey solution of modern +thought clears the liquid and makes a precipitate of sharply defined +truth that any eye can plainly see. + +This is how we _won't_ be saved. This is how we _don't_ get into the +family of God. It is "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of +the will of man"; not through family connection, nor by what we can do +of ourselves simply, nor by what we can get some of our fellows to do +for us, simply. + +"_But of God_," John says. It is by Someone else, outside of us, above +us, reaching down from a higher level, and putting the germ of a new +life within us, and lifting us up to His own level. He puts His hand +_through_ the open door of our will, what we do in opening up to Him, +_through_ "the will of the flesh." He walks along the pathway of the +earnest desire of those who would help us up, "the will of man." But it +is what _He_ does that does the one thing that all depends upon. His is +the decisive action, _through_ our choosing and our friends' helping. + +I said it isn't a matter of blood, of lineage. Yet it is. That statement +must be modified. Family relationship is of necessity a matter of blood. +That's the very blood of it. This _is_ a matter of blood; but not _our_ +blood; _His._ There has to be a new strain of blood. Our blood is +stained. It is at fault. It is impure. There's been a bad break far back +there in the family record, a complete break. We were powerless either +to purify the stock, or to get over that gap, even if we admitted the +need. + +There had to be a bridging of that gap. It had to be from the upper +side. The other fell short. The gap was still there. There had to be a +new strain of blood. This was, this _is_, the only way. We get into that +old first family only by the Father of the family reaching over the +break and putting in the new strain of blood, the germ of the family +life, and so lifting us up to the new level. And Jesus was God doing +just that. + + + +Our Tented Neighbour. + + +Then John begins a new paragraph. He goes back to tell just how the +thing was done. Listen: _the Word, this wondrous One, became a man, one +of ourselves, and pitched His tent in close amongst our tents._There's +only a stretch of canvas between Him and any of us. He wanted to get +close, close enough to help, yet never infringing upon the privacy of +our tents, only coming in as He was invited. But He has remarkable +ears. A whisper reaches Him at once. And He is out of His tent into ours +to help at the faintest call. That was why He pitched His tent in +amongst ours, to be one of ourselves, and to be at hand in our need. + +And then a touch of awe creeps into John's spirit as he writes, and the +light flashes out of his eye with the intensity of an old picture +surging to the front of his imagination again. There was more than a +_tent_ here, more than a _man_. Out of the man, out through the tent +doorway, and tent canvas, flashes a wondrous, soft, clear light, that +transfigures canvas and tent and man. John's face glows as he writes, +"and we beheld His _glory_." + +I suppose he is thinking chiefly of that still night on white Hermon. +This despised Man had called the inner three away from the crowd, in the +dark of night, and had gently drawn aside the exquisite drapery of His +humanity, and let some of the inner glory shine out before their eyes. +So the way was lightened for them as their feet were turned with His +down towards the dark valley of the cross. I suppose John is thinking +chiefly of this. + +But this is not all, I am very sure. There's more, even though this may +have been most. Glory is the character of goodness. It is not something +tacked on the outside. It is some native thing looking out from within. +So much of what we think of as glory and splendour in scenes of +magnificence is a something in the externals, the outer arrangements. +Splendid garbing, brilliant colours, dazzling shining of lights, seats +removed a distance apart and up, magnificent outer appointments,--these +seem connected in our thought with an occasion and a scene being +glorious. + +But John is using the word in its simple true first meaning. Glory is +something within shining out. It is the inner native light that goodness +gives out. "We beheld _His glory_." I think John must have been thinking +of Nazareth. Thirty out of thirty-three years were spent in homely +Nazareth. Ten-elevenths of Jesus' life was spent in--_living_, simply +living the true pure strong gentle life amid ordinary circumstances, +homely surroundings. This was the greatest thing Jesus did short of +dying. He _lived_. Next to Calvary where the glory shined out +incomparably, it shined out most in Nazareth. He hallowed the common +round of life by living an uncommon life there. This was a revealing of +His glory. So He revealed the inner spirit of simple full obedience to +His Father's plan for His earth-life. + +If we would only rise to His level! The way up is down. We are likest +Him when we live the true Jesus-life _regardless of where it is lived_, +on the street, in the house, amidst the ideals--or lack of ideals--of +those we touch closest. It was a wondrous glory John beheld. And the +crowd--no wonder that crowd couldn't resist Jesus. They can't even yet, +when He is _lived_. + +Then John goes on quietly to explain about that glory, how it came. He +says it was "_glory as of an only begotten of a father_." The common +versions with which we are familiar, the old King James, the English and +American revisions, all say "the," "_the_ only begotten of _the_ +Father." I suppose the translators wanted to make it quite clear that +Jesus was in an exceptional way the very Son of God. And so they don't +translate quite as John put it. They try to help him out a little in +making his meaning clear. + +But you will notice that this old Book of God never needs any helping +out in making the truth quite clear. When you can sift through versions +and languages down to what is really being said, you find it said in the +simplest strongest way possible. + +Here John is saying, "glory as of _an_ only begotten from _a_ father." +It is a family picture, so common in the East. Here in the West, the +unit of society is the individual. The farther west you come the more +pronounced this becomes, until here in our own land individualism seems +at times to run to extremes. Custom in the East is the very reverse of +this. There the unit of action is not the individual, but the _family_. +The family controls the individual in everything. We Westerners think we +can see where it runs to such extremes as to constitute one of the great +hindrances to progress there. + +In the East, if a young man is to be married, he has actually nothing to +do with it, except to be present in proper garb when the time comes. The +fact that he should now be married, the choice of his bride, the +betrothal, the time, all arrangements and adjustments,--all this is done +by the families. The two that we Westerners think of as the principals +have nothing to do, except to acquiesce in the arrangements of their +elders. It is strictly a family affair. + +Even so all that belongs to the family, of wealth, fame, inheritance, +distinction, vests distinctly in the head of the family, the father. He +stands for the whole family. And so, too, all of this descends directly +from the father at his death to his eldest son. In some parts the father +retires at a certain age, either really or nominally, and all becomes +vested technically in his eldest son. And if the son be an only begotten +son, then literally all that is in the father comes into the son. All +the fame, the inheritance, the traditions, the obligations, the wealth, +in short all the glory of the father comes of itself, by common action +of events, to the son. + +Now this is what John is thinking of as he writes, "we beheld His glory, +glory as of _an_ only begotten of _a_ father." That is to say, all there +is in the Father is in Jesus. When you see Jesus, you are seeing the +Father. The whole of God is in this Jesus. This is what John is saying +here. + + + +Grace and Truth Coupled. + + +And then John does a bit of exquisite packing of much in little. He +tells the whole story of the character, the revealed glory, of Jesus in +such a few simple words,--"_full of grace and truth_." Not grace +without truth. That would be a sort of weakly, sickly sentimentalism. +And not truth without grace. That would be a cold stern repellent +insistence on certain high standards. But grace and truth coupled, +intermingling. + +Of course real grace and truth always are coupled. They tell the +exquisite poise that is in everything God does. Truth is the back-bone +of grace. Grace is the soft cushioning of flesh upon the bony framework +of truth. It is the soft warm breath of life in truth. Truth is grace +holding up the one only standard of purity and right and insisting upon +it. And as we look we know within ourselves we never can reach it. Grace +is truth reaching a strong warm hand down to where we are and _helping_ +us reach it. + +With God these things are always coupled. _We_ get them separated badly, +or would I better say, imitations of them. There is a sort of thing we +have called truth. It is not so common now as a generation or more ago. +It is a sort of stern elevated preaching of righteousness, but with no +warm feel of life to it. I can remember hearing preaching in my immature +boy days that made me feel that the man and the thing must be right, but +neither had any attraction for me. It was as though a man went fishing +with a carefully-made properly-labelled metallic-bait at the end of a +long stout cord, and said, as he dangled it in the sinful waters to the +elusive fish, "Now, bite; or be damned." + +It was never put so baldly, of course, in words. And I was only a child +with immature childish imaginations. Yet that was the feeling about the +thing the child got. But it's scarcely worth while talking of that now +except to point the contrast; things have swung so far to the other +extreme. + +The current thing to-day is grace without truth, or what is supposed to +be grace. It is a sort of man-made substitute. It's something like this. +Here's a man in the gutter, the moral gutter. It may be the actual +gutter. Or, there may be the outer trappings of refinement that easy +wealth provides; or, the real refinement that culture and inheritance +bring. But morally and in spirit, it's a gutter. The slime of sin and +low passion, of selfishness and indulgence and self-ambition, oozes over +everything in full sight. The man's in the gutter. + +And along comes the modern philosopher of grace, so-called. He looks +down compassionately, and says, "Poor fellow, I'm so sorry for you. Too +bad you should have gotten down there. Let me help you a bit, my +brother." So he puts some flowering plants down in the slime of the +gutter, and he brushes the man's clothes a bit, and his hair, and +sprinkles the latest-labelled cologne-water over him, and pats him on +the shoulder, and says, "Now, you feel better, my man, don't you?" And +the man sniffs the perfume, and is quite sure he does. _But he is still +in the gutter._ + +There seems to be an increasing amount of this sort of thing over in my +neighbourhood. How is it in your corner of the planet? There's an +intense stress on environment; that means the _outside_ of things. +Better sanitation, improved housing, purer milk supply, and segregation +of vice which seems to mean putting some of the viler smelling slime of +the gutter, the slimer slime, all over in one guttered section by +itself. But there can be no health there. It's a _change of location_ +that is needed! + +The wondrous Jesus-plan is different. It holds things in poise. Grace +_and_ truth. Truth is Jesus stretching His hand up high, up to the limit +of arm's length, and saying, "Here is the standard, purity, +righteousness, utter honesty of heart and rigid purity of motive and +life. You _must_ reach this standard. It can't be lowered by the half +thickness of a paper-thin shaving. You must come to this standard. The +standard never comes down to you." + +And the man in the gutter says, "I'll never reach it." And he is right. +_He_ never will--of himself, alone. Yet that's truth, true truth. "A +hopeless case" you say; "utter impractical idealizing! Case ruled out of +court." Just wait, that's only half the case, and not the warm half +either. + +Grace is Jesus going down into the gutter, the gutterest gutter, and +taking the man by his outstretching hand, and _lifting_ him _clean up_ +out of the gutter, up, and up, _till the man reaches the standard_, and +is never content till he does. That was a tremendous going down, and a +yet more tremendous lifting up. Jesus broke His heart and lost His life +in the going down. + +But out from the broken heart came running the blood that proved both +cleansing and a salve. And out of the grave of that lost life came a new +life that proved an incentive, and a tremendous dynamic. The blood +cleanseth the _inside_ of the man in the gutter, and heals his sores, +restores his sight and hearing and sensitiveness of touch. The new life +put inside the man makes him rise up and _walk determinedly_ out of the +gutter to a _new location_. He is a new man, with a new inside, in a new +location. That threefold cord is ahead of Solomon's--it _can't_ be +broken. + +And, if you'll mark it keenly, a new _in_side includes a new _out_side. +The thing that in religious talk is called conversion is a sociological +factor that cannot be ignored by the thoughtful student. The drunkard +goes down to the old-fashioned sort of mission where they insist on +teaching that the blood of Jesus cleanseth from all sin, and that the +Holy Spirit will make a new man of you, and burn the sin out. + +And _something_ happens to the drunkard. He kneels a drunkard, drunk; he +rises a man, sober. He goes to the hole he calls home. And at once a +change begins to work gradually out. He treats his wife and children +differently. He works. They are fed better and clothed warmer. He gets a +better house in a better neighbourhood. The new sociological factor is +at work. It began inside; it revolutionizes the outside. + +Settlement houses, better environment, improved outer conditions of +every sort, are blessed, and only blessed, after the inside is fixed or +in helping to get it fixed. If that isn't done, they are simply as a +lovely bit of pink-coloured court-plaster skilfully adjusted over an +ugly incurable ulcer. The man is befooled while the ulcer eats into his +vitals. + +It's only the blood-power of a Jesus, _the Jesus,_ that can fix the +inside. He cuts out the ulcer and puts in a new strain of blood. Then +the inner includes the outer. And the most grateful of all is the man. +This is the Jesus-plan, John says, "_full of grace and truth._" + +Grace is named first. It _comes_ first. That is a bit of the +graciousness of it. That's love's exquisite diplomacy. We feel the +grateful warmth of the sun in the winter's air, and are drawn by it. We +smell the fragrance of the roses and come eagerly nearer. We hear the +winsomeness of a gentle wooing voice a-calling, and instinctively answer +to it. And then we find the sun's power to heal and cleanse and its +insistence on burning up what can't stand its heat. + +We find the inspiring, purifying uplift of the flowers, drawing us up +the hillside to the top. We find the voice--the Man--gently but with +unflinching unbending determination that never yields a hairbreadth, +insisting on our coming clear up to the topmost level. That's a wondrous +order of words, and coupling of helps, grace and truth. + +And this is Jesus. This is John's simple tremendous picture. This Man +comes down into our neighbourhood, on our earth. He sticks up His +stretch of tent-canvas right next ours. He insists on being His own true +self in the midst of the unlikeliest surroundings. The glow of His +presence shines out over all the neighbourhood of human tents. There's a +purity of air that stimulates. Men take deep breaths. There's a +fragrance breathing subtly out from His tent that draws and delights. +Men come a-running with childlike eagerness. + + + +Grace Flooding. + + +And now as Jesus comes quietly down the river road where John's crowd is +gathered, John the witness points his finger tensely out, and eagerly +cries out: _There He is! This is the man I've been telling you about! He +that cometh after me in point of time is become first in relation to me +in point of preeminence: for He was before me both in time and in +preeminence._ + +And then John adds a tremendous bit. He had just been talking about +Jesus being _full_ of that great combination of grace and truth. Now his +thought runs back to that. Listen: "Of _His fullness_ have we all +received." + +There's another translation of this sentence that I have run across +several times. It reads in this way: "Of His _skimpiness_ have we all +received." I never found that in common print; only in the larger print +of men's lives. But in that printing it seems to have run into a large +edition, with very wide circulation. Men don't read this old Book of God +much; less than ever. They get their impression of God wholly from those +who call themselves His followers. + +They watch the procession go by. Here they come crippled diseased +maimed weakened in body, piteously pathetically crutching along, singed +and burned with the flames of the same low passion that the onlooking +crowds know so well, struggling, limping, crutching along bodily and in +every other way. + +And that's a crowd with very keen logic, those onlookers. It judges God +by those bearing His name, very properly. And it says more or less +_unconsciously_,--"What a poor sort of God He must be those people have. +No doubt He has a great job of management on His hands. There are so +many of them to provide for. And apparently there can't be any +abundance, certainly no overflow, no surplus. He has to piece it out the +best He can to make it go as far as possible." + +"I think maybe I needn't be in any hurry to join that crowd, at least +till I have to, along towards the end of things here. There would only +be one more to carry. He has such a crowd now. And the resources are +pretty badly strained, judging by appearances." So the crowd talks. Poor +God! How He is misrepresented by some walking translations. "Of His +_skimpiness_---!" Be careful. Don't take too much. Be grateful for the +crumbs. + +Please clean your spectacles, and readjust them carefully, and if you +are afflicted with the small-print Bible that seems in such common use, +get a reading-glass and look here at the proper translation. That +crutching, leather-bound translation is grossly inaccurate, if it _is_ +in such big print, and in such wide circulation. Look here. Can you see +the words? This is the only correct reading: "Of His _fullness_ have all +we received." Put that into the print of your life, for your own sake +and for the crowd's sake, yes, and for God's sake, too, that the crowd +may know the kind of a God God is. + +And as if John had a suspicion about possible bad translations, he did a +bit of underscoring. That word _fullness_ is underscored in John's +original copy. It's a heavy underscoring, in red. The underscoring is in +three words he adds: "Grace for grace." That is, grace _in place of_ +grace. It's a sort of picture. Some grace has been received. And it is +so wondrous that nothing seems so good. And the man is singing as he +goes about his work. + +Then comes a sudden soft inrushing of a flood of grace so great that it +seems to displace all that was there. Oh! the man didn't know there was +such grace as this. It seems as if he had never known grace before. And +the work-song is hushed into a great stillness, though the wondrous +rhythm of peace is greater than before. + +And then before he quite knows how it happens in comes another soft +subtle inrushing flood-tide of grace that seems to displace all again. +Some temptation comes, some sore need, some tight corner. You look to +Him; lean on Him; risk all on His response. He _responds_; and in comes +the fresh inrush. + +And then this sort of thing becomes a habit, God's habit of responding +to your need, need of every sort. It becomes the commonplace, the +blessed commonplace that can never be common. That's John's underscoring +of the word "fullness." May the crowds whose elbows we jostle get this +underscored translation, bound in shoe-leather, _your_ shoe-leather. + +Then in his eagerness to make us understand the thing really, John makes +a contrast. "The law was _given_ through Moses; grace and truth _came_ +through Jesus Christ." The law was a thing, _given_, through a man. +Grace and truth was _a man coming_, the very embodiment in Himself of +what the two words stand for. + +The law, the old Mosaic law, was not a statement of the _full_ message +of God. That was given much earlier. It was given to all. It came +directly. It was given first in Eden, in its flood; and then +continuously to every man wherever he was. It was given within each +man's own heart, and through the unfailing flooding light in nature +above and below and all around. The tide of its coming has never ceased +in volume nor in steadiness of flow; and does not cease. That tide came +to flood in Jesus. And that flood has never known an ebb. + +But men's eyes got badly affected. They didn't let the light in, either +clearly or fully. The light was there, but it was not getting in. +Something had to be done to help out those eyes. So the law was given. +It was merely a mirror to let a man see his face, what it was like. + +Here's a mother calling to her little son, "Come here and let me wash +your face." And he calls out, "It isn't dirty." "Yes, dear, it is very +dirty, come at once." "Why, no, mother, it isn't dirty; you washed it +this morning." And the child's tone blends a hurt surprise and a settled +conviction that his mother is certainly wrong _this_ time about the +condition of his face. + +And if the mother be of the thoughtful brooding kind, she says nothing, +but gets a hand mirror, and holds it before the child's face. That will +always get a child's attention. And the boy looks; he sees his dirty +face reflected. The blank astonishment on his face can't be put into +words. It tells the radical upsetting revolution in his thought on that +subject. How could it have happened that his face got into that +condition! And the washing process is yielded to at least; possibly even +asked for. + +That's what the law did and does. It showed man his face, his heart, his +need. It brings upsetting revolutionary ideas regarding one's self. +There it stops. That's its limit. Then the Man who in Himself is grace +and truth does the rest. + + + +The Spokesman of God. + + +Then John quietly, deftly draws the line around to the starting point in +that first tremendous statement. He completes a circle perfect in its +strength and beauty and simplicity, as every circle is. If we follow the +order of the words somewhat as John wrote them down, we find the bit of +truth coming in a very striking, as well as in a fresh way. "_God no +one has ever, at any time, seen_." + +That seems rather startling, does it not? What do these older pages +say? Adam talked and walked and worked with God, and then was led to +the gate of the garden. God appeared to Abraham, and gave him a +never-to-be-forgotten lesson in star study. Moses spent nearly six weeks +with Him, twice over, in the flaming mount, and carried the impress of +His presence upon his face clear to Nebo's cloudy top. + +The seventy elders "saw the God of Israel, and did eat and drink," the +simple record runs. And young Isaiah that morning in the temple, and +Ezekiel in the colony of exiles on the Chebar, and Daniel by the Tigris +at the close of his three weeks' fast,--these all come quickly to mind. +John's startling statement seems to contradict these flatly. + +But push on. John has a way of clearing things up as you follow him +through. Listen to him further: The only-begotten God who is in the +bosom of the Father--_He_ has always been the _spokesman_ of God. Look +into that sentence of John's a little. It seems quite clear, clear to +the point of satisfying the most critical research, that John wrote down +the words, "the only-begotten _God_." The contrast in his mind is not +between "God," and the "only begotten Son." It is a contrast whose +verbal terms fit with much nicer exactness than that. It is a contrast +between "God" and the "only-begotten God." + +There is only one such person whichever way unity. They tell the whole +story hanging at the end of John's pen. This little bit commonly called +the prologue is a gem of simplicity and compactness. + +It is John's Gospel in miniature, even as John's Gospel is the whole +Bible story in miniature. You can see the whole of the sun reflected in +a single drop of water. You can see the whole of both Father and Son in +the action of love in these simple opening lines of John's Gospel. + +Have you ever been walking down a country road till, weary and thirsty, +you stopped at an old farmhouse and refreshed yourself at the +old-fashioned well, with its bucket and long sweep? And as you rested a +bit by the well you wondered how deep it was. It didn't look deep at +all. The water was near, and it was so clear and sweet and refreshing, +and so easy to get at for a drink. + +_Is_ it deep? So you fish a rather long bit of string out of your +pocket, and tie it to a bit of stone you find lying close by. And you +let the stone down, and down, and down, till you are surprised to find +that the well is deeper than your string is long. + +Well, John's opening bit is just like that. It seems very simple, easily +understood at first flush in the mere statements made. The water is near +the top. You easily drink. And you are refreshed. But when you try to +find out how deep it is, you are startled to find that it is clear over +your head. + +But it is _never over your heart_. It is too deep for you to grasp and +understand. You never touch bottom. _But_ it's never beyond +heart-understanding. You can sense and feel and love. You can open the +sluice-gates into your heart, and have the blessed flood-tide lift and +lift and bear you aloft and along. You can _love._ And that is the whole +story. + +Was John an artist? Is he making a rare painting for us here? Is he +studying perspective, shading and spacing, to an exquisite nicety that +is revealed in the very way he puts words and sentences and paragraphs +together? I do not know. And if any of you think the thing I am about to +speak of is due to a mere mechanical chance of the pen, I'll not quarrel +with you. Though I shall still have my own personal thought in the +matter. + +But will you notice this? John begins his prologue with a description of +a wonderful personality. He ends it with another description of this +same personality. Both descriptions are rare in beauty and boldness, in +simplicity and brevity. And right midway between the two, at almost the +exact middle line of the reading, at what is the artistic center, stands +the word "_came_." + +That word "came" gathers up into itself and tells out to you the whole +story about this twice-described personality. "He came" John says. +That's the whole thing. First the _He_ fills your eye, and then what He +did--_came_. And as you step off a bit for better perspective, and +change your personal position this way and that to get the best light, +you find the picture standing out before your awed eyes. + +It is a Man coming down the road with face looking into yours. He is +truly a man, every line of the picture makes that clear to you. But such +a man as never was seen before, with the rarest blending of the kingly +and the kindly in His bearing. The purest purity, the utmost +graciousness, the highest ideals, the gentlest manner, nobility beyond +what we have known, and kindliness past describing,--all these blend in +the pose of His body and most of all in the look of His face. And He is +in motion. He is walking, walking towards us, with hands outstretched. + +This is John's picture of Jesus. He came to His own. He came because His +own drew Him. Out from the bosom of His Father, into the womb of a +virgin maid, and into the heart of a race He came. Out of the +glory-blaze above into the gloom of the shadow, and the glare of false +lights below, He came. + +Out of the love of a Father's heart, the Only-begotten came, into +contact with the hate that was the only-begotten of sin, that He might +woo us men up, and up, and up, into the only-begotten life with the +Father. + +Jesus was God on a wooing errand to the earth. + + + + +III + +The Lover Wooing + + _A Group of Pictures Illustrating How the Wooing Was Done, and How + the Lover Was Received_ + + + + + "Still with unhurrying chase, + And unperturbed pace, + Deliberate speed, majestic instancy + Came the following Feet, + And a Voice above their beat-- + _Naught shelters thee, who will not shelter Me_.'" + + --"_The Hound of Heaven_." + + "O thou hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble, + why shouldst thou be as a sojourner in the land, and as a wayfaring + man that spreadeth his tent for a night?"--_Jeremiah xiv. 8_. + + He came unto his own home, and they who were his own kinsfolk + received him not into the house, but left him standing outside in + the cold and dark of the winter's night. But as many as did receive + him he received into his home, and gave each a seat in the inner + circle at the hearthfire of God.--_John i. II, 12. Free + translation_. + + + + +III + +The Lover Wooing + +(John i. 19-xii. 50) + + + +The Mother of all Love-Words. + + +Brooding is love at its tenderest and best It is love giving its best, +and so bringing out the best possible in the one brooded over. + +Look into the nest where the word itself was brooded. It is a warm +something, warm in itself, not a borrowed warmth. The warmth is its +chief trait. It is a soft tender unfailing cuddling warmth. It cuddles +and coos, it glows and floods a gentle comforting stimulating warmth. +And the best there is lying asleep within the thing so brooded over +awakes. + +It answers to that creative mothering warmth. It pushes out, against all +obstacles, and comes shyly and winsomely, but steadily and strongly, out +to the brooding warmth, growing as it comes and growing most as it comes +into closest touch with the warm brooder. + +Brooding is the mother of all love-words,--friendship, wooing, pitying, +helping, mothering, fathering, witnessing, believing. It is the +mother-word, from out whose warm womb all these others come, warm, too, +and full of gentle strong life. Its mother quality is so strong that we +are apt to think of it only in connection with actual mothers, mothers +among animals and birds and of our human kind. + +But this is only one meaning, really a surface meaning, though such a +fine deep meaning in itself. Its real heart meaning lies much deeper. +_Brooding is the mother of all love._ It is its warmth that draws out +that fine feeling that makes and marks friendship. It is its tender +warmth that draws out that finest degree of friendship which knits with +unbreakable bonds two lives into one. + +It reaches out most subtly to knit up again the ends that have ravelled +out under the sore stress of life. It bends compassionately over those +hurt in body, and hurt yet more in their spirit by the greedy rivalry of +life, and nurses into newness of life the shivering shredded hurt parts. +In the more familiar use of the word it fathers and mothers the newly +minted morsels of precious humanity, coming into life with big wondering +eyes. + +And it warms into highest life that highest love that, through the +process of hearing, assenting, trusting, risking, giving the heart's +devotion, comes to know God as a tender Father, and Christ as a precious +personal Saviour. Whether in close friend, or ardent lover, gracious +philanthropist, devoted parent, or earnest witness, it is the same warm +thing underneath, at its fine task--brooding. + +We think of it most in the mother. For it comes to its highest human +perfection there. The true thoughtful mother is first and chiefest a +brooder. She broods in spirit till her child looks into her eyes, +bearing the image, in face and mental impress and spirit, which the +brooding months have given. She broods over the inarticulate days when +the babe cannot tell the felt needs except to a brooding mother's keen +insight. + +She broods over the baby-talk days; over the struggling days when the +child would tell its awakening thoughts out in words, but doesn't know +how yet; over the wilful days which come so early when the first battles +come that decide the whole future. + +With a warmth of tenderness and patience, and a strength of gentle wise +insistence, more than human, she broods. It takes the very strength of +her life, far far more than in prenatal days. So there comes, slowly, +but as she keeps true to the brooding spirit, surely, the strong gentle +self-controlled life out of the warm womb of her brooding life. So comes +the child's higher birth, so preparing the way for the yet higher. + +Now all this is at its native best in God. There only does it reach +finest fruitage. Some day we shall recognize the meaning of that modest +but tremendous little sentence,--_God is love_. This warm brooding +something that comes, gentle as the dawning light in the grey east, +fragrant as the dew of the new morning, irresistible in its pervasive +persuasive presence as the rays of the growing sun, giving to us warmth, +and life, and drawing out from within us warmth and life and beauty and +strength, all in its own image, this is the thing called love. This is +the thing that God is. As we know _it_ we are getting acquainted with +_Him_. + +And if a break comes, instantly love in its grief sets itself with +warmth and renewed strength to the new harder brooding task. It gives +itself out yet more, regardless of cost, until in place of the broken +fragments there comes a finer sort of life out of the warm womb of love, +brooding, redeeming, bringing-back-again love. This is God. This is +Jesus. John shows us Jesus as a picture of the brooding God. + + + +Five Pictures of Jesus. + + +There are five wondrous pictures of Jesus in these newer leaves of the +old Book. Three of them hang on the walls of Paul's tent-weaving +study-room. There's the Colossian picture, the _Creator-Jesus,_ infinite +in power, making all things above and below and around, and holding all +things together.[7] + +Close by it in wondrous contrast is seen the Philippian picture. It is +the _Man-Jesus,_ emptied of all the upper-glory native to Him, bowing +down low and lower and lowest, till in the form of a slave He hangs on a +cross.[8] + +And in contrast yet more striking and startling, close by its side hangs +the Ephesian picture. It is the _Enthroned-Jesus,_ back again in the +soft, blazing, blinding glory of the Father's presence, seated at His +right hand, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and +every name that is named. And as you stand awed before this picture +your eye is caught by the artist's remarque sketch at the bottom. It is +a broken Roman seal, and an open tomb, and a bird with swelling throat +singing joyously.[9] + +Then there's John's later Patmos picture of the _Present-Jesus_, +standing now down on the earth in the midst of His candle-holding +Church, but seen only by opened eyes. There He is seen as a Man of Fire, +ablaze with light, intently watching, with tender but omnipotent touch +waiting, ever waiting; with a patience unknown except in Him, still +waiting.[10] + +But John's earlier Gospel picture is of the _Brooding-Jesus_. The word +"brooding" here takes in its fine deep significance. Jesus is seen here +as a brooding Lover, by the warmth of His wooing love drawing out the +warmth of an answering love. This is peculiarly and distinctively the +picture of John's Gospel. There is _a Man walking towards you_ in these +pages. Turn where you will there He is, and always facing you, with a +gentle eagerness in His face and in the bend-forward of His body. + +There is always a warmth, a gentle radiating comforting drawing warmth +in His presence. This is the thing you feel most, the warmth. But it +isn't the only thing. There's the purity. There are ideals that seem out +of reach in their great height. There's the insistence on these ideals, +rigid stern absolutely unbending insistence. You _see_ these. You can't +help it. You feel them tremendously. They seem to leave you clear out +of reckoning, they are so high up. But there's the warmth, drawing +arousing wooing, irresistible. + +You come to find that the warmth of that presence is as irresistible as +the ideals and the insistence are unbending. And the warmth woos you. It +warms you, till there come the intense admiration of the ideals, and +then the eager reaching of the whole being up towards them. + +This is John's picture of the brooding wooing Jesus. This is God, in +human garb as He comes to us in John's pages. Jesus is God brooding over +us to woo out of us the love and purity, the purity and love, that He +woos into us by the touch of His own warm presence. + +John's little book is put together as simply as his sentences. And as +you take it up, it falls apart almost of itself, so simple and natural +are its divisions. We had a look at the opening paragraphs of the +Gospel, those eighteen brief verses that open the doorway into all the +Gospel holds for us. _There_ is given chiefly John's simple vivid +tremendous picture of _a Person_, coming with swift long stride and +outreached hands. + +Now we turn to the second part of the book. It runs from the nineteenth +verse of the opening chapter on through to the end of chapter twelve. It +is devoted to _the great winsome wooing_ of this great human Person. +Here we see Him on His wooing errand. He woos individual men. He gives +the personal touch. He devotes Himself to one person, now here, now +there. His skill and tact in personal dealing are matchless. But this +is not the chief wooing of these pages. It is _the nation_ He is wooing. +With rarest strategy and boldness and persistence He lays loving siege +to the nation through its leaders. This is central and dominant in all +His movements here. This is the second picture in the gallery of John's +Gospel. + +It is a good thing to run through these fourteen pages of John's Gospel +_several times;_ to run through _rapidly_, though not hurriedly; to run +through them as a story until it stands out in your mind as _one simple +connected, story_. And then it will help greatly, if you are so blest as +to have some boy or girl near at hand to whom you can tell it as a story +in simple child (not childish) talk. + +Pack the whole into one story of ten minutes, or fifteen: the man of the +story;[11] how He tried to win the people's hearts;[12] how towards the +end He spent a long evening with those who loved Him;[13] how awfully He +was treated by those who hated Him;[14] then how wondrously He surprised +His friends;[15] and then the little bit at the end where He prepares +breakfast and has a walk and talk on the seashore with a little group of +those who loved Him most.[16] + +Tell that to a boy or girl as a short story. Use sensible words, but +_not one_ that your little listener wouldn't at once understand. Pretty +sharp discipline for the story-teller, especially if you stop to put in +a simpler word when you've blundered into a big one. The child will be +held by it But you will get the most yourself out of the telling. + + + +Warp-Threads. + + +Now as you read the second part over, it gradually sifts itself into +several incidents about which the story is woven. These incidents form +the warp-threads of the narrative. Into this warp are woven, sometimes +little connecting links, sometimes quarrelsome discussion, sometimes +exquisite bits of Jesus' teaching, and sometimes John's comments. And as +the story grows it reaches one climax after another, each increasing in +intensity, until the intensest is reached.[17] And these incidents fall +naturally into groups. There are three _chief groups_ that seem to stand +out as giving the bolder points of the outline, and then _smaller +groups_ or _single incidents_ that lie in between. + +It is very natural that the story begins with the accounts of the +deputation that was sent from Jerusalem by the official leaders of the +nation, down to the Jordan bottoms where John the witness was drawing +such great crowds. John modestly answers their questions about himself, +and then the next day with dramatic intensity points out the Man for +whom the whole nation has been looking for so long. + +The only response from deputation and officials is a most significant +disappointing silence, a silence fully understood both by John[18] and +by Jesus.[19] But five Galileans in the crowd listening to John's reply +seek out, or are brought into personal questioning touch with, Jesus, +and then yield Him unquestioning belief and personal devotion. And these +five come, in after years, to be leaders known wherever Christ's name is +known.[20] So there begins the sharp contrast running throughout these +pages, between the two sides into which Jesus' presence divides the +crowds. + +Then John traces the simple way in which the faith of these five men ran +its tiny but tough tenacious tendril-roots down into their very vitals. +A simple neighbourhood wedding occasion up near the old Nazareth home +drew Jesus thither with His kinsfolk and His new-made friends. And then +He meets the need of the homely occasion by helping out the shortened +supply of wine in such an unusual way as reveals His character. And the +conviction takes great fresh hold upon these five men that they have +made no mistake. This Man is all they had taken Him for, and He is +immensely more than they had thought into at first.[21] + +Then comes a little connecting link. After the Cana visit, Jesus runs +into the near-by town of Capernaum with His kinsfolk and friends for a +few days, a sort of continuation of the neighbourhood courtesies.[22] + +And then at once John goes to the intensest, and the most significant +incident of this whole section of the book. It is the drastic turning +out, by Jesus, of the traders in the temple-area at Jerusalem. This +touched at once the national leaders' most sensitive nerve, and touched +it roughly. It never ceased aching. This turning of the temple-area into +a common market-place, which so jarred on the holy atmosphere of the +place, and on Jesus' fine spirit, this was by arrangement with these +leaders, and yielded them large profit. Here was the sore spot. + +With one deft stroke John lays bare the secret of the intense hatred of +Jesus by these national leaders, with which these pages teem, and which +came to its bursting head at the cross. Long after, when Jesus had died +and been raised, these five leading disciples find a new strengthening +of their faith in recalling words spoken at this time by Jesus.[23] + +Growing naturally out of this Passover visit comes the Nicodemus +incident. Many of the Passover crowds were caught by the power of Jesus +shown in the miracles He did, but had not the seasoned thoughtful faith +of these first disciples. But one man sifts himself out by his spirit of +earnest inquiry. The sharp contrast that runs throughout these incidents +stands out here. This man is of the inner upper cultured circle, that +controlled national affairs, that sent that Jordan committee, and that +had been so upset by the temple cleansing. + +Yet not only Nicodemus' earnest search for truth, and the questions +asked by him, but the fullness and fineness of spirit truth in Jesus' +words to him reveal the true faith of this rare inquirer; and this is +verified by his later actions.[24] Clearly Jesus found here an opened +door. Here is the first of those exquisite bits of Jesus' teaching that +mark John's Gospel.[25] + +These four incidents make up the first group of, what I think of as, the +three chief groups of incidents in this section of John. The group +begins at the Jordan, and runs up into Galilee, but in its interest and +its chief incident, centres in Jerusalem. The action begins with John +the witness, and swings naturally to Jesus. The contrast in this group +of incidents is intense. With the same evidence at hand, first +contemptuous silence and loving allegiance, then the beginnings of +bitterest hate and of tenderest personal love, grow up side by side. + +Then there is a sort of swing-away-from-Jerusalem group that includes +three incidents. After the rejection of John's witness to Jesus[26] by +the nation's leaders, Jesus withdraws from Jerusalem to the country +districts of Judea. There He takes up the sort of work John has been +doing, so bearing His witness to John. John had drawn great crowds down +to the Jordan and in the neighbourhood of its tributary streams. + +Now Jesus helps in arousing and instructing these crowds. There are two +men preaching instead of one, and Jesus has the greater crowds. This is +used to make trouble. It stirs up gossipy disputings. It is made to look +like a jealous rivalry between the two men. And this supposed rivalry +and disputing about the various claims of the two men become the +uppermost thing. It reflects the characteristic spirit of the leaders. +John greatly renews his witness to Jesus with fresh emphasis and +earnestness.[27] + +But as Jesus sees that His presence is only being made a bone of +contention He quietly slips away from Judea, turning north through +Samaria towards Galilee. Then comes the great story of the visit to +Sychar, with the exquisitely tactful winning of the sinful woman to a +life of purity, and then using her as a messenger to her people. +Imbedded in the story is another bit of Jesus' simple great teaching +talk.[28] + +Then comes a brief connecting link. Finding no acceptance in Judea, His +own country, Jesus goes to Galilee, where visitors at the Jerusalem +Feast of Passover had been spreading the news of His words and deeds, +and so a gracious welcome now awaits Him.[29] + +And here in Galilee He wins the believing love of a roman officer of +noble birth, whose son is desperately ill. The father's faith passes +through three stages, the belief that comes to ask for help, the deeper +belief that rests upon Jesus' word to him and starts back home, and the +yet deeper that gets confirmation of Jesus' word and power in the +recovery of his son from the very time Jesus spoke the assuring +word.[30] + +These are the three incidents in this group away from the Jerusalem +district. It is striking that this group away from Jerusalem stands in +sharp contrast with that first group centering in Jerusalem. _There_ is +rejection by the nation's leaders running from contemptuous silence to +the beginning of open opposition. _Here_ with less evidence there is +acceptance by a Samaritan and a Roman; the one of no social standing; +the other of the highest. + +The rejection of Jesus by the leaders stands in contrast thus far with +acceptance of Him by five Galileans, by a cultured scholarly aristocrat, +a half-breed Samaritan, and a Roman of gentle birth. Acceptance seems to +grow with the distance from Jerusalem. Yet everything hinged in +Jerusalem. _There_ had been the flood-light. Jerusalem was meant to be +the gateway to the world. The irony of sin! The blinding of greed! The +self-cheating of being self-centered! + + + +Climbing towards the Climax. + + +And now, true to his controlling thought, John goes straight back to +Jerusalem with his story, ignoring intervening events. There's another +feast, not called a Passover, but commonly and probably correctly so +reckoned, another crowd-gathering Passover. An extreme chronic case of +bodily infirmity draws out the pity and power of Jesus, and the healed +man takes his first walk after thirty-eight years. + +But the thing is done on a Sabbath day, and gives rise to bitterest and +murderous persecution, first on the score of Sabbath observance, and +then because Jesus claimed God as "His own Father" in a distinctive +sense. Friction fire may send out beautiful sparks. And the opposition +brings out one of the choicest bits of Jesus' teaching to be found in +John. This incident stands by itself.[31] + +And now John reaches over a whole year with only a sentence or two for +connection, and comes again to a Passover. The Passover was _the pivot_ +of the Jewish year and of Jewish national life. This Passover is made +notable by _Jesus' absence from Jerusalem_, the only Passover absence of +His ministry. And the reason is the violence of the persecution by the +national leaders. + +There is the feeding of the hungry thousands with a handful of loaves +and fish. Was this the real Passover celebration? The multitudes fed by +Him who was the Lamb of God and the true Bread of life? while the +technical observance was empty of life! It wouldn't be the only thing of +the sort, in ancient times or modern.[32] + +Jesus withdraws from the crowds who would like a bread-maker for a king, +gets a bit of quiet alone with His Father on the mountainside, and then +walks on the water in the storm to keep His appointment with the +disciples. Then follows a long disputation and another fine bit of +Jesus' teaching.[33] These two incidents make another distinct group, +separated from the previous one by a year on the far side and six months +on the hither side. And the contrast continues, between the acceptance +by the Galilean crowds and the intensifying opposition by the chief +group of Jerusalem leaders. + +Then comes _the second chief group of incidents_. About six months later +Jesus returns to Jerusalem for the autumn Feast of Tabernacles. He +boldly teaches in the temple in the midst of much opposition, bitter +discussion, and concerted official effort against Him.[34] The dramatic +incident of the accused woman and the conscience-stricken leaders[35] is +followed by a yet more bitter discussion and by the first passionate +attempt at stoning.[36] + +Then the incident of the man born blind but now blessedly given his +sight leads to the bitterest opposition thus far, and the casting of the +man out from all religious privileges; and is followed by the rare bit +of sheepfold and shepherd teaching.[37] These four incidents make up the +second great outstanding group of incidents, and mark the sharpest clash +and crisis thus far. + +A few months later at another Jerusalem feast called the Feast of the +Dedication, comes a second hotly impulsive riotous attempt at stoning, +and then an attempt to arrest, both foiled by the restraint of Jesus' +mere presence and personal power.[38] And another connecting link traces +His going away beyond the Jordan River, where the crowds gather to Him, +and are won to warm personal belief.[39] + +Another little gap of a few months passed over in silence, brings the +narrative to the _third_ and last _chief group of incidents_ in this +part of the book, and so leads immediately up to the great final events +of the whole book. + +The illness and death of Lazarus draws Jesus back to a suburb of +Jerusalem, Bethany. Then the stupendous incident of the raising of +Lazarus leads to the official decision to put Jesus to death.[40] And a +connecting link of verses tells of Jesus' cautious withdrawal, of the +inquiring crowds coming to the approaching Passover, and of the public +notice given that Jesus was under official condemnation.[41] + +It is at the home feast given in Bethany as a tribute of love to Jesus +that Judas, coldly criticizing a warm act of tender love, and gently +rebuked by Jesus, gets into that bad heat of temper out of which came +the foul bargaining and betrayal.[42] Another brief connecting link lets +us see the crowds more eagerly inquiring for Jesus because of the +raising of Lazarus, and the determined priests coolly plotting Lazarus' +death, too.[43] + +Then comes Jesus' faithful open offer of Himself in kingly fashion to +the nation, with the tremendous enthusiasm of the multitudes, and the +hardening of the official purpose to do the one thing that will offset +this wild-fire enthusiasm.[44] + +And then comes the apparently simple, but in meaning tremendous, +incident of the inquiring Greeks. The Jew door is slamming shut, but the +outside door is opening. Here the whole world opens its door, its front +door, in these Greek representatives of the best culture the earth knew. +But Jesus' vision never blurs. He understands; He alone. The only route +to Greece and the whole outer world is the underground route, the way +through Joseph's tomb. + +And as the intense spirit-struggle passes, Jesus quietly goes on with +His searching appealing talk to the crowd, and then slips away into +hiding till His hour had full come.[45] And with breaking heart John +sadly recalls Isaiah's wondrous foresight of just these days and +events.[46] These are the four incidents in this third chief group. + +And so the door shuts. The wooing ceases. This bit of John's story is +done. The evidence is all in. The case is made up. The nation's door to +its King shuts. The Lover's wooing of the nation ceases. John turns to a +new chapter. No further evidence is brought forward. The case rests with +the jury. The door had been shutting for a good while. The inside +door-keepers had been pulling it hard. But the great Man outside had His +hand on the knob delaying the shutting process, in the earnest hope that +it yet might be quite stopped. Now His hand reluctantly loosens its +hold. The knob is free. The inside pull does its work. The door goes to +with a vigorous slam. + +The wooing is not _wholly_ done. There is still the indirect, the tacit +wooing. There's still opportunity. All through that fateful night from +Gethsemane's gate, to the last word at Pilate's seat the Lover is +wooing. But it is wooing by action, by presence, by yielding. No +pleading word is spoken. The direct wooing is done. Tender, earnest, +insistent, patient, tremendous, irresistible in itself save to those who +willed to resist anything and everything no matter what or +whom,--wondrous wooing it has been. Now it's over. That chapter is done. + + + +Way-marks in John's Narrative. + + +Out of this simple running account several things sift themselves, and +stand out to our eyes. The action of the story swings chiefly _about +Jerusalem_. The other parts seem but background to make Jerusalem stand +out big. In this John's Gospel differs radically from the other three. +They are absorbed chiefly with the tireless gracious Galilean ministry +of Jesus, till the last great events force them to Jerusalem. + +And the reason is plain. Jerusalem is Israel. It is the nation. Jesus is +wooing the _nation_ through its leaders. Why? For the nation's sake? for +Israel's sake? Yes and no. Because these Jews were favourites of God? +Distinctly _no_, though so highly favoured they had been in the wondrous +mission entrusted to them. But because Israel was the gateway to a world +Yes, for Israel's sake. _Through_ this gateway, so carefully prepared +when every other gate was closing, _through_ this out to a world--this +was the plan of action. And this will yet be found to be the plan. +Through a Jewish gateway the King will one day go out to touch His +world. This is the geography of John's story. + +The action of the story swirls largely, too, about the great national +feasts, the Passovers, the Tabernacles or harvest-home feast of the +autumn, and one called "the Dedication," not elsewhere spoken of. To +these came great crowds of pilgrim Jews from all quarters of the world, +speaking many languages beside their national Hebrew, giving large +business, especially to money-brokers and traders in the animals and +birds used in the sacrifices. That classical Pentecost Chapter of Acts +gives the wide range of countries and of languages represented by these +pilgrim thousands. These feasts are the central occasions of John's +story. + +_The time_ begins with John's preaching in the Jordan bottoms and +reaches up practically to the evening of the betrayal. It is commonly +reckoned three and a half years. That is, there are some months before +that first Passover, and then the events run through and up to the +fourth Passover, reckoning the unnamed feast of chapter five as a +Passover. This is the chronology of John's Gospel. John's Gospel gives +the only clue to the length of Jesus' ministry. + +There are three groups _of persons_. There are _the Jews_. That is one +of John's distinctive phrases. By it he means as a rule the official +leaders of the nation, whom in common with the other writers he also +designates by their party names, Pharisees, Scribes, Chief Priests, and +so on. Among these the name of Caiaphas stands out, and later Annas. + +Then there are _the crowds_, the masses of people that flock together in +any new stirring movement. There are Galilean crowds, feast-time crowds +including the great numbers of foreign pilgrim Jews, city crowds, and +country crowds. They gather to John's preaching. They gather in great +numbers in Jerusalem, and on the Galilean visits. They are easily +impressionable, swayed by subtle crowd-contagion, stirred up and played +upon cunningly by the opposition leaders. + +They appeal greatly to Jesus, like unshepherded sheep. And the sick and +needy ones, so numerous, draw out His pity and warm touch and healing +power. They believe quickly, and almost as quickly are turned away and +desert the cause they had so quickly and warmly rallied to. Fickle, +unthoughtful, easily-swayed, needy crowds, but with the thoughtful ones +and groups here and there who are really helped and who stick. These +crowds are always in evidence. + +And there are _the disciples_. There is the inner group of chosen ones +who companion with Jesus, sharing His bread and bed, and close witnesses +of His gracious spirit and unfailing power, with impulsive heady Peter +and faithful steady John always nearest by. What a schooling all this +was for them! And there are other disciples, not of this picked circle, +but on most intimate personal terms with the Master, some of them, like +thoughtful cautious Nicodemus, like the Bethany group of three, and Mary +the Magdalene. And there is the larger, looser, changing body of +disciples, mingling with the crowds, sometimes deserting, but no doubt +with many thoughtful devoted ones among them. These are the leading +persons figuring in John's story, grouped about the person of Jesus. + +But these are simply interesting incidentals giving local colouring to +John's story. We pass by them quickly now to a few things that take +great hold of one's heart, that stand out biggest, and give the real +action of life to the story. + + + +Tapestry Threads. + + +As we unravel the fabric of John's Gospel there are three threads that +stand out by reason of the distinctness of their colours. There's a +thread of clear decided blue. There's a dark ugly black thread that +gets blacker as it weaves itself farther in. And then there's a bright +yellow glory-colour thread that shines with brighter lustre as the black +gets blacker. + +Trace the blue first, the thread of a simple glad acceptance of Jesus, +and trust in Him. It deepens in its fine shading of blue as you follow +it, true blue, the colour true hearts wear. From the very first Jesus is +accepted by some, by many. And this continues steadily through to the +very last. Some doors open at once to Him. Then under the influence of +His presence and gentle resistless power they open wide, and then wider. + +It is fascinating to trace the simply told story of growing faith, until +one's own faith gets clearer and steadier and has more warm glow to it. +To adapt Tennyson's fine lines, as knowledge grows from more to more +there dwells in us more of the deep tender reverence of love, until all +the powers of mind and spirit chord into one symphony of unending music. +And the wheels of our common life move always to its rhythmic swing. + +See how _the crowds_ crowd to Jesus, and open up to the appeal of His +words and acts and presence. Many of the pilgrim crowds of that first +Passover believe, impressed by Jesus' spirit of helpfulness and His +unusual power.[47] And the Galileans among them give Him warm welcome as +He comes up into their country.[48] It is a great multitude that follows +eagerly up on the east coast of the Galilean sea, hail Him as the +long-expected prophet of their nation, talk of plans for making Him +their King, and earnestly cry out, "Lord, evermore give us this (true) +bread."[49] + +Even in the midst of the bickering discussions at the Tabernacles Feast +many of the multitude believed on Him, some as the long-talked-of +prophet, some as the very Christ Himself.[50] And as He talks to His +critics of His purpose always to please the Father, still others are +drawn in heart to Him and believe.[51] And at this same time, as the +criticism gets uglier, many make bold to speak out on His behalf[52] +though it was getting to be a dangerous thing to do. As He feels +compelled to withdraw from the tense atmosphere of Jerusalem, and goes +away into the country districts beyond the Jordan the people come +flocking to Him with open hearts.[53] + +The Lazarus incident made inroads into the upper circles of Jerusalem, +many of the influential social class with whom these dear Bethany +friends seem on close terms, and who had been out there during those +stirring days, believe on Jesus, and many of the common people, too, are +won by that occurrence.[54] That tremendous raising of Lazarus had much +to do with the great acclaim of the multitudes as Jesus rode into +Jerusalem on the kingly colt.[55] + +It is without doubt a sincere homage that these multitudes from far and +near, and the home crowds, render, with their palm branches and +garment-strewn roads, and spontaneous outburst of joyous song.[56] And +now as John put his bit of a knotted summary on the end of this part of +his story, he points out that even among the members of the Jewish +Senate there were many real believers.[57] + +But a crowd is a strange complex thing. It doesn't know itself. It's +easily swept along to do as a crowd what would never be done by each one +off by himself. And this works in good ways as well as in bad. Jesus +drew the crowds and was drawn by them. He couldn't withstand the pull of +the crowd. The lure of its intense need was irresistible to Him. Yet He +knew crowds rarely. + +He was never blinded by their enthusiasm. His keen insight saw under the +surface, though it never held Him critically back from helping. He +quickly notes that the belief of those first Passover crowds has not +reached the dependable stage.[58] He is never held back from showing the +red marks in the road to be trodden even though many of His disciples +balk at going farther on such a road, and some turn away to an easier +road,[59] so revealing an utter lack of the real thing. And even where +there's real faith of the sincere sort it is yet sometimes not of the +seasoned sort that can stand the storms.[60] + +These crowds seem of close kin to more modern crowds. One touch of a +crowd rubs out centuries of difference and shows one family blood in us +all. Yet keep things poised. It was out of these crowds that there came +the disciples and close friends to whom we now turn. There's gold in the +crowds, finest twenty-four carat gold. It's all a matter of mining. +Skilful mining gets out the gold. This wondrous Lover used the +magnetic-current method of mining, the love-current. The strong warm +current, the fine personal spirit current, drew out to Him the fine +grains of gold in these human crowds. + + + +Growing Faith. + + +Now we climb the hill where _the disciples_ are. The crowds are in the +bottom-lands. Many have started up the hill. Jesus always woos men +uphill. You can always tell a man by where he is standing, bottom-land, +hillside, higher-hill-slope, hilltop. We turn now from the crowds that +believed to those whose personal acceptance of Jesus drew them into the +inner circle. + +The first three incidents trace the beginnings of faith in those first +close disciples who came to be numbered among the picked inner +twelve.[61] The first story is one of the rarest of John's many rare +stories. It is characteristic of the real thing of faith that beginning +with two they quickly number five. The attachment of the two to John, +the Witness, reveals them as of the earnest inquiring sort, after the +very best. John never forgot that talk with Jesus in the gathering +twilight by the Jordan. It sends Andrew out for Peter, and John likely +for James, while the Master gets Philip, and he in turn Nathaniel. That +reveals the real stuff of faith. It has a mind whose questionings have +been satisfied, a heart that catches fire, and feet that hasten +out-of-doors for others. That's the real thing. + +Their faith takes deeper root at Cana. A new personal experience of +Jesus' power is a great deepener of faith, the great deepener. This is +the only pathway from faith to a deeper realer sturdier faith. A man can +get a deeper faith only by walking on his own feet where Jesus leads. + +Their faith grows imperceptibly but by leaps and bounds. It grows down +deeper and so up stronger and out farther by their _companionship with +Jesus_ through those brief packed years. What a school that was! the +school of companionship with Jesus, with lessons daily, but the chiefest +lesson the Teacher Himself. What a school it _is_! The only one for +learning the real thing of faith: still open: pupils received at any +time. + +If we would shut our eyes and go with them as they company with Jesus +through those wondrous days and events and experiences we may get some +hold on how their faith grew. They actually saw the handful of loaves +and fishes grow in their hands until thousands were fed. Their own eyes +saw Jesus walking on the water. + +It was out of their very hearts that they cry out through Peter's lips +in answer to Jesus' pathetic pleading question and say, "To whom shall +we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life."[62] And without doubt +Thomas acts as spokesman for all when Jesus announced His intention of +returning to the danger zone, and Thomas sturdily says, "Let us _also_ +go, that we may die with Him."[63] + +But you are thinking of that terrible break of theirs on the betrayal +night, are you? Well, perhaps if we call to mind with what an utter +shock the events of that terrific twenty four hours came, intensified +the more by the unexpectedness and the suddenness of it; and then +if--perhaps--we may call to mind the more recent behaviour of some +modern disciples who have had enormous advantages over them in regard to +that terrific experience it may chasten our feelings a bit and soften +the edge of our thought about them. + +But dear faithful John never faltered. We must always love him for that. +How humiliating for us if not even one had stood that test. And how +their after-contact with John must have affected the others. John pulled +the others back and up. And how their faith so sorely chastened and +tested came to its fine seasoned strength afterwards. + +These very events of the early days now come back with new meaning to +them. Jesus' words at the temple cleansing, and the kingly entry into +Jerusalem, shine now in a new light and give new strength to their +faith.[64] But John himself brings us back to this again in that long +talk of the betrayal night. So we leave it now. But blue is a good +colour for the eyes. It reveals great beauty in the bit of +tapestry-pattern John is weaving for us to trace these true blue +threadings. + +But there's more here, much more, that adds greatly to the pattern. +There are faithful disciples _and precious intimate friendships_ outside +the circle of these future leaders. Take only a moment for these as we +push on. + +There's that night visitor of the early Jerusalem days. Aristocrat, +ruler, scholar, with all the supercautiousness that these qualities +always grain in, Nicodemus actually left the inner circle of +temple-rulers who were as sore to the touch as a boil over John's +drastic cleansing, and comes for a personal interview. His utter +sincerity is shown in the temper of his remarks and questions, and shown +yet more in the openness of Jesus' spirit in talking with him. For this +is a trait in Jesus' dealings,--openness when He finds an opening door. +It _must_ be so, then and now. He can open up only where there is an +opening up to Him. Openness warms and loosens. The reverse chills and +locks up.[65] + +It is in another just such situation but far more acute, that this man +speaks out for Jesus in an official meeting of these same rulers. +Timidly? have you thought, cautiously? Yet he spoke out when no one else +did, though others there believed in Jesus. A really rare courage it was +that told of a growing faith.[66] And the personal devotion side of his +faith, evidence again of the real thing, stands out to our eyes as we +see him bring the unusual gift of very costly ointments for the +precious body of his personal friend.[67] It's a winsome story, this of +Nicodemus. May there be many a modern duplicate of it. + +In utter social contrast stands the next bit of this sort following so +hard that the contrast strikes you at once. It's a half-breed Samaritan +this time, and a woman, and an openly bad life. The Samaritans were +hated by Jew and Gentile alike as belonging to neither, ground between +the two opposing social national millstones. Womanhood was debased and +held down in the way all too familiar always and everywhere. And a moral +outcast ranks lowest in influence. + +But true love discerns the possible lily in the black slime bulb at the +pond's bottom and woos it into blossoming flower, till its purity and +beauty greet our delighted eyes. Under the simple tact of love's true +touch, out of such surroundings grows a faith, through the successive +stages of gossipy curiosity, cynical remark, interest, eagerness, guilty +self-consciousness that would avoid any such personal conversation, out +and out comes a faith that means a changed life, and then earnest +bringing of others till the whole village acclaims Jesus a Saviour, +_the_ Saviour. + +And the very title they apply to Jesus reveals as by a flash-light the +chief personal meaning the interview had for this outcast woman. In one +way her faith meant more than Nicodemus', for it meant a radical change +of outer life with her. And many a one stops short of that, though the +real thing never does, and can't.[68] + +Then the circle widens yet more, geographically. Jew, Samaritan, it is a +_Roman_ this time, one of the conquering nation under whose iron heel +the nation writhes restlessly. He is of gentle birth and high official +position. It is his sense of acute personal need that draws him to +Jesus. The child of his love is slipping from his clinging but helpless +grasp. + +There's the loose sort of hearsay groping faith that turns to Jesus in +desperation. Things can't be worse, and possibly there might be help. +There's the very different faith that looks Jesus in the face and hears +the simple word of assurance so quietly spoken. He actually heard the +word spoken about _his_ dying darling, "_thy son liveth_." + +Then there is that wondrous new sort of faith whose sharper hooks of +steel enter and take hold of your very being as you actually +_experience_ the power of Jesus in a way wholly new to you. As it came +to his keenly awakened mind that the favourable turn had come at the +very moment Jesus uttered those quiet words, and then as he looked into +the changed face of his recovering child, he became a changed man. The +faith in Jesus was a part of his being. The two could never be put +asunder. So the Roman world brought its grateful tribute of acceptance +to this great wooing brooding Lover. The wooing had won again. + +And now there's another extreme social turnabout in the circle that +feels the power of Jesus' wooing. We turned from Jerusalem aristocrat to +Samaritan outcast; now it's from gentle Roman official to a beggaring +pauper. It is at the Tabernacles' visit. Jesus, quietly masterfully +passing out from the thick of the crowd that would stone Him, noticed a +blind ragged beggar by the roadway. One of those speculative questions +that are always pushing in, and that never help any one is asked: "Who's +to blame here?" + +With His characteristic intense practicality Jesus quietly pushes the +speculative question aside with a broken sentence, a sentence broken by +His action as He begins helping the man. In effect He says, "Neither +this man nor his parents are immediately to blame; the thing goes +farther back. But"--and He reaches down and begins to make the soft clay +with His spittle--"_the_ thing is to see the power of God at work to +help." And the touch is given and the testing command to wash, and then +eyes that see for the first time. + +But the one thing that concerns us now in this great ninth chapter is +the faith that was so warmly wooed up out of nothing to a thing of +courageous action and personal devotion to Jesus. It is fairly +fascinating to watch the man move from birth-blind hopelessness through +clay-anointed surprise and wonder and Siloam-walking expectancy on to +water-washing eyesight. + +It is yet more fascinating to see his spirit move up in the language he +uses, from "the _man_ called Jesus," and the cautious but blunt "I don't +know about His being a sinner, but I know I can _see_," on to the +bolder "clearly not a sinner but a man in reverent touch with God +Himself." + +Then the yet bolder, "a man _from God_," brings the break with the +dreaded authorities which branded him before all as an outcast and as a +damned soul. And then the earnest reverent cry "Who is He, Lord, that I +may believe?" reveals the yearning purpose of his own heart. And then +the great climax comes in the heart cry, "Lord, I believe, I believe +Thee to be the very Son of God." + +And the outcast of the rulers casts in his lot with Jesus and begins at +once living the eternal quality of life which goes on endlessly. What a +day for him from hopeless blindness of body and heart to eyesight that +can see Jesus' face and know Him as his Saviour and Lord! Growth of +faith clearly is not limited to the counting of hours. It waits only on +one's walking out fully into all the light that comes, no matter where +it may lead your steps. + + + +The Bethany Height of Faith. + + +The Bethany story is one of the tenderest of all. It touches the +heights. It's a hilltop story, both in its setting amidst the Bethany +blue hills where it grew up, and in the height of faith it records. It +has personal friendship and love of Jesus and implicit trust in Him as +its starting point. And from this it reaches up to levels unknown +before. Faith touches high water here. It rises to flood, a flood that +sweeps mightily through the valleys of doubt and questionings all around +about. + +At the beginning there is faith in Jesus of the tender, personal sort. +At the close there's faith that He will actually meet the need of your +life and circumstance _without limit_. The highest faith is this: +connecting Jesus' power and love with the actual need of your life. +Abraham believed God with full sincerity that covenant-making night +under the dark sky. But he didn't connect his faith in God with his need +and danger among the Philistines.[69] Peter believed in Jesus fully but +his faith and his action failed to connect when the sore test came that +Gethsemane night. + +The Bethany pitch of faith makes connections. It ties our God and our +need and our action into one knot. This is the pith of this whole story. +Jesus' one effort in His tactful patient wooing is to get Martha up to +the point of ordering that stone aside. He got her faith into touch with +the gravestone of her sore need. Her faith and her action connected. +That told her expectancy. Creeds are best understood when they're acted. +Moving the stone was her confession of faith. _Not_ that Jesus was the +Son of God. That was settled long before. + +No: it meant this--that the Son of God was now actually going to _act as +Son of God_ to meet her need. Under His touch her dead brother was going +to live. The deadness that broke her heart would give way under Jesus' +touch. The Bethany faith doesn't believe that God _can_ do what you +need, merely. It believes that He _will_ do it And so the stone's taken +away that He _may_ do it. God has our active consent. Are we up on the +Bethany level? Has God our active consent to do all He would? Is our +faith being lived, acted out? + +And the feast of grateful tribute that followed has an exquisite added +touch. The faith that lets God into one's life to meet its needs gets +clearer eyesight. Acted faith affects the spirit vision. There is a +spirit sensitiveness that recognizes God and discerns how things will +turn out. + +Notice Jesus' words about Mary's act of anointing. There is a singularly +significant phrase in it. "Let her _keep it_ against (or in view of) the +day of My burying." "Keep it" is the striking phrase. What does that +mean? We speak of _keeping_ a day, as Christmas, meaning to hallow the +memories for which it stands. "Keep it" here seems to mean that. Let her +keep a memorial. Yet it would be a memorial _in advance_ of the event +remembered and hallowed. + +It seems to suggest that Mary thus discerned the outcome for Jesus of +the coming crisis, and more, its great significance. The disciples +expected Jesus' power to overcome all opposition. She alone sensed what +was coming, His death and its tremendous spirit-meaning. And it is +possible that the raising of her brother helped her to sense ahead +another raising. For there is no mention of her at the tomb, as would +otherwise have been most natural. + +Her simple love-lit faith could _see_, and could see _beyond_ to the +final outcome. This is the story of the Bethany faith, faith at flood. +This highest simplest truest faith, that had come in answer to Jesus' +patient persistent wooing for it, opens the way for the greatest use of +His power on record. + +There's one story more in this true-blue faith list. It is the story of +the Greeks. At first it seems not to belong in here. There is no mention +made of the faith of these men nor of their acceptance of Jesus. But the +more you think into it the more it seems that here is its true place, +and that this is why John brings it in, not simply to show how the +outside world was reaching for Jesus, but to show the inner spirit of +these men towards Jesus. + +Whether the term _Greeks_ is used in the looser sense for the +Greek-speaking Jews,[70] or for non-Jewish foreigners, or, as I think +most likely, in the meaning of men of Grecian blood, residents of +Greece, the significance is practically the same, it was the outer world +coming to Jesus. These had come a long journey to do homage to the true +God at Jerusalem. Their presence reveals their spirit. + +They were eye and ear-witnesses of the stirring events of those last +days in Jerusalem. The stupendous story of the raising of the man out in +the Bethany suburb was the talk of the city. And then there was that +intense scene of the kingly entry into the city amid the acclaiming +multitudes. They knew of the official opposition, and the public +proclamation against Jesus. They breathed the Jerusalem air. That put +them in touch with the whole situation. + +Now notice keenly they seek a personal interview with Jesus. This is the +practical outcome of the situation _to them_. It reminds one of that +other man, under similar conditions though less intense, at an earlier +stage, cautiously seeking a night interview. Their desire tells not +curiosity but earnestness, and the very earnestness reveals both purpose +and attitude towards Jesus. + +And this is made the plainer by the very words they use as they seek out +the likeliest man of the Master's inner circle to secure the coveted +interview. They say, "Sir, _we would see Jesus_." The whole story of +conviction, of earnestness, of decision, is in that tremendous little +word "would." It was their will, their deliberate choice, to come into +personal relations with this Man of whom they were hearing so much. + +And it seems like a direct allusion to that tremendous word, and an +answer to it, when Jesus, in effect, in meaning, says, "if any man +_would_ follow Me." Both the coming under such circumstances, and the +form of the request, seem to tell the attitude of these men towards +Jesus and their personal purpose regarding Him. It would be altogether +likely that they accompany Philip as he seeks out Andrew. It would be +the natural thing. And so they are with Philip and Andrew as they come +to tell Jesus. + +Then this would be the setting of these memorable intense words that +Jesus now utters.[71] He senses at once the request and the earnest +purpose of these men seeking Him out. It is for them especially that +these words are spoken. And if, as some thoughtful scholars think, Jesus +spake here, not in His native Aramaic, but in the Greek tongue, it gives +colouring to the supposition. The intense earnestness of His words, and +the revealing of the intense struggle within His spirit as He breathes +out the simple prayer,--all this is a tacit recognition of the spirit of +these Greeks. + +The parallel is striking with the Nicodemus interview where no direct +mention is made of the faith that later events showed was unquestionably +there. It seems like another of those silences of John that are so full +of meaning.[72] And the silence seems, as with Nicodemus, to mean the +acquiescence of the inquirers in the message they hear. + +This then would seem to be the reply to the request. They have indeed +seen Jesus. And they accept it and Him, as most likely they linger +through the Passover-days at hand and then turn their faces homeward. +And so the warm wooing has drawn out this warm response from the +cultured Greek world. + +So we trace the blue thread in John's tapestry picture, the true faith +that is drawn out from nothing to little and more and much and most, +under the warmth of the brooded wooing of this great Lover. + + + +The Ugly Thread in the Weaving. + + +Now for that ugly dark thread, the opposition to, the rejection of, the +Lover's wooing. But we'll not linger here. We've been seeing so much of +this thread as we traced the other and studied the whole. Ugly things +stand out by reason of their very ugliness. This stands out in gloomy +disturbing contrast with all the rest. A brief quick tracing will fully +answer our present purpose. And then we can hasten on to the dominating +figure in the pattern. + +The opposition begins with silent rejection, moves by steady stages, +growing ever intenser clear up to the murderous end. The sending of the +committee to the Jordan to examine John and report on him was an +official recognition of his power. The questions asked raise the +possibility clearly being discussed of John being the promised prophet, +or Elijah, or even the Christ Himself, and this is an expression of the +national expectancy. The utter silence with which John's witness to +Jesus is met is most striking.[73] Its significance is spoken of by both +Jesus and John.[74] + +The intensity of the resentment over the cleansing of the temple-area +can be almost felt rising up out of the very page, in the critical +questions and cynical comment of the Jews. One can easily see all the +bitterness of their hate tracking its slimy footprints out of that +cleansed courtyard.[75] + +The cunning discussion among the great Jordan crowds about the purifying +rite of baptism, stirred up so successfully by "_a Jew_," that is, +probably by one of the Jerusalem leaders, would seem to be a studied +attempt to discredit the two preachers, Jesus and John, and swing the +crowds away. It was shrewdly done and might have dissipated the fine +spiritual atmosphere by bitter strife and discussion had not Jesus +quietly slipped away.[76] + +This attitude of theirs is clearly recognized and felt by Jesus. He +plainly points out that vulgarizing hurt of sin whereby God's own +messenger is not recognized when He comes in the garb of a +neighbour.[77] + +Then things get more acute. The blessed healing of a +thirty-eight-year-old infirmity leads to outspoken persecution, to a +desire and purpose actually to kill Jesus. It grew intenser as Jesus' +claim grew clearer. The issue was sharply drawn. He "called God _His own +Father_, making Himself _equal with God_." They begin plotting His +death.[78] + +His prudent absence from Jerusalem at the time of the next Passover +reveals graphically how tense the opposition had gotten. But even up by +Galilee's shores they have messengers at work amongst the crowds +exciting discussion and discontent and worse. In the discussion it is +easy to pick out the two elements, the nagging critics and the earnest +seekers. And the saddening result is seen in many disciples leaving +Jesus and going back again to their old way.[79] + +Then things got so intense that Jesus' habit of life was broken or +changed. He could no longer frequent Judea as He had done, but kept +pretty much to the northern province of Galilee. The settled plan to +kill made His absence a matter of common prudence. This makes most +striking His great courage in going up to Jerusalem at the autumn Feast +of Tabernacles. He quietly arrived in the midst of much rumour and hot +discussion about Himself, and begins teaching the crowds openly, to the +great amazement of many. + +At once begin the wordy critical attacks, egged on probably by the +warmth with which many receive Jesus' teachings. There are three +attempts to take Him by force, including an official attempt at arrest. +But, strangely enough, the very officers sent to arrest are so impressed +by Jesus' teaching that they return with their mission not done, to the +intensest disgust and rage of their superiors.[80] + +Early on the morning following there's a cunning coarse attempt to +entrap Him into saying something that can be used against Him. A woman +is brought accused of wrong-doing of the gravest sort, and His opinion +is asked as to the proper punishment for so serious an offense. There's +nothing more dramatic in Scripture than the withdrawal of these +accusers, one by one, actually conscience-stricken in the presence of +the few simple words of this wondrous Man.[81] + +This is followed by the intensest give-and-take of discussion thus far, +in which they give vent to their bitterest degree of vile language in +calling Him "a Samaritan," and accusing Him of being possessed with "a +demon." And then the terrible climax is reached in the enraged +passionate attempt of stoning. It is the worst yet to which their +fanatical rage has gone.[82] + +Now they reach out to intimidate the multitude, by threatening to cut +off from religious and civic privileges all who would confess belief in +Jesus as Christ. And their spleen vents its rage on the man born blind +but now so wondrously given sight of two sorts.[83] + +The winter Feast of the Dedication a few months later finds Jesus back +again in Jerusalem teaching. And again their enraged attempt at stoning, +the second one, is restrained by a something in Him they can neither +understand nor withstand.[84] + +The Lazarus incident arouses their opposition to the highest pitch.[85] +This is recognized as a crisis. Such power had never been seen or known. +The inroads of belief are everywhere, in the upper social circles, among +the old families, even in the Jewish Senate itself, notwithstanding the +threatened excommunication. On every hand men are believing. Things are +getting desperate for these leaders. They determine to use all the +authority at hand arbitrarily and with a high hand. What strange +blindness of stubborn self-will to such open evidence of power! + +A special meeting of the Jewish Senate is held, not unlikely hastily +summoned of those not infected with belief. And there it is officially +determined to put Jesus to death, and serve public notice that any one +knowing of His whereabouts must report their information to the +authorities. + +And as the incoming crowds thicken for the Passover, and the talk about +Lazarus is on every tongue, it is determined to put Lazarus to death, +too. This is the pitch things have risen to as John brings this part of +his story to a close. + + + +The Glory-Coloured Thread. + + +It is a relief to turn now to the chief figure in this tapestried +picture of John's weaving. Here are glory-coloured threads of bright +yellow. They easily stand out, thrown in relief both by the pleasing +blues and the disturbing blacks. It is the figure of the Man on the +errand, intent on His wooing, absorbed in His great task. Thia Man, His +tremendous wooing, wins glad grateful ever-growing acceptance. And with +rarest boldness and courage He persists in His wooing in spite of the +terrific intensifying opposition. + +The gentle softening dew persists in distilling even on the hardest +stoniest soil. The _gentle winsomeness of the wooing_ stands out +appealingly as one goes through those fragments of teaching talks +running throughout. The rare faithfulness of it to the nation and its +leaders is thrown into bold relief by the very opposition that reveals +their dire spiritual plight and their sore need. + +The _power of it_ is simply stupendous. As gentle in action as the +falling dew it grows in intensity until neither the gates of death nor +even the stubborn resistance of a human will can prevail against it. It +is power sufficient to satisfy the most critical search, and to make +acceptance not only possible with one's reasoning power in fullest +exercise but the rational thing. + +Look a bit at the power at work here. For in looking at the power we are +getting a better look at the Man, and at the purpose that grips Him. Of +the nineteen incidents in these twelve chapters fifteen give exhibitions +of power. It is of two sorts, power over the human will, and miraculous +power. + +Eight incidents reveal _power working upon the human will_. In three of +these--Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, the accused sinful woman--the +will becomes pliant and is radically changed, so morally affecting the +whole life. In five--the temple cleansing, at the Tabernacles Feast, the +first and second attempt at stoning, and the kingly entry into the +city--the human will is stubbornly aggressively antagonistic to Jesus, +but is absolutely restrained from what it is fully set upon doing. + +In the other seven incidents the power is _miraculous_ or supernatural. +In three--turning the water into wine, multiplying food supplies, +walking on the water--it is power in _the realm of nature_. In +four--healing the Roman nobleman's son, the thirty-eight-year +infirmity, giving sight to the man born blind, and the raising of +Lazarus--it is power in _the realm of the body_, radically changing its +conditions. + +It will help to remember what those words _miraculous_ and +_supernatural_ mean. Miraculous means something wonderful, that is, +something filling us with wonder because it is so unusual. Supernatural +means something above the usual natural order. The two words are +commonly taken as having one meaning. Neither word means something +contrary to nature, of course, but simply on a higher level than the +ordinary workings of nature with which we are familiar. The action is in +accord with some higher law in God's world which is brought into play +and is seen to be superior to the familiar laws. + +But the power, or the man that can call this higher law into action, is +of a higher order. There is revealed an intimacy of acquaintance with +these higher laws, and even more a power that can command and call them +into action down in the sphere of our common ordinary life, until we +stare in wonder. This is really the remarkable thing. Not supernatural +action itself simply, tremendous as that is, but the man in such touch +with higher power as to be able to call out the action, and to command +it at will. + +This is one of the things that marks Jesus off so strikingly from other +holy men. There are miracles in the Old Testament and in the Book of +Acts. But there's an abundance and a degree of power in Jesus' miracles +outclassing all others. It is fascinating and awesome to watch the +growth of power in these movements of Jesus. It is as though He woos +more persistently in the very degree and variety of power that He uses +so freely, and with such apparent ease. + +Which calls out greater power, creating or healing? making water into +wine or healing bodily ailment? Which is the greater, power in the realm +of nature or the body? _or_ in the realm of the human will? multiplying +food _or_ changing a human will? Which is greater, to induce a man +voluntarily to change his course of action, _or_ to restrain him (by +moral power only, not by force) from doing something he is dead-set on +doing? + +This is the range through which Jesus' action runs in these fifteen +incidents. Is there a growth in the power revealed? Is there an intenser +plea to these men as the story goes on? Is there a steady piling up of +evidence in the wooing of their hearts? + +Well, creating is bringing into material being what didn't so exist +before. Healing does something more. It creates new tissue, makes new or +different adjustments and conditions, _and_ it overcomes the opposite, +the broken tissue, the diseased conditions, the weakness, the tendency +towards decay and death. Clearly there's a greater task in healing, and +a greater power at work, or more power, or power revealed more. + +Then, too, of course, the human is above the physical. Man is higher +than nature. He is the lord of creation. It is immensely more to affect +a human will than to affect conditions in nature. The whole thing moves +up to a measureless higher level. And clearly enough it is a less +difficult task to enlighten and persuade one who seeks the light, and to +woo up one who is simply carelessly indifferent, than it is to overcome +and restrain a will that is dead-set against you and is bitterly set on +an opposite course. + +Of course, all of this is not commonly so recognized. It seems immensely +more to heal the body than to change a man's course of action, or, at +least, it appeals immensely more to the imagination. The man who can +heal is magnified in our eyes above the other. The miraculous always +seems the greater. It is more unusual. Stronger wills are influencing +others daily. That's a commonplace. Bodily healing is rare. And all the +world is ill. Things are ripe to have such power seize upon the +imagination then and always. + +And then, too, there are interlacings here of things we see and things +we don't see. There is the element of the use of the human will in all +miraculous action, whether in nature or among men. Behind both nature's +forces and human forces are unseen spirit personalities, both evil and +good. The real battle of our human life lies there in the spirit realm. +Victory there means full victory in the realm of nature and of human +lives. There is a devil with hosts of spirit attendants. The wilderness +was a spirit-conflict of terrific intensity, ending in Jesus' +unqualified victory. + +Jesus' power was more than simply creative, or healing, or over human +wills. It was the power of a pure, strong, surrendered will having the +mastery over a giant, unsurrendered, God-defiant will. This underlies +all else. But we've run off a bit. Come back to the simple story, and +see how the power of Jesus is revealed more and more before their eyes. +And in seeing the faithfulness and winsomeness of His power, see His +wooing. + + + +Intenser Wooing. + + +A look at the _miraculous_ power first. The turning of the water into +wine was simple creative power at work, creating in the liquid the added +constituents that made it wine. The healing of the nobleman's son rises +to a higher level. The power overcomes diseased weakened conditions and +creates new life in the parts affected. + +The healing of a thirty-eight year old infirmity rises yet higher in the +scale of power seen at work. The Roman's child was an acute case; this +an extreme chronic case of long standing. The acute case of illness may +be most difficult and ticklish, demanding a quick masterful use of all +the physician's knowledge and skill. The chronic case is yet more +difficult eluding his best studied and prolonged and repeated effort. +Clearly the power at work is accomplishing more; and so it is pleading +more eloquently. + +The feeding of the five thousand is creative power simply, like the +water-wine case, but it moves up higher in the greater abundance of +power shown, the increase of quantity created, and the far greater and +intenser human need met and relieved. + +The walking on the water was an overcoming one of nature's laws, a +rising up superior to it. The universal law of gravitation would +naturally have drawn His feet through the surface of the water and His +whole body down. He overcomes this law, retaining His footing on the +water as on land. + +It was done in the night, but an Oriental community, like any country +community, anywhere, is a bulletin-board for all that happens. No detail +is omitted, and no one misses the news. And this like all these other +incidents become the common property of the nation. + +It is interesting to note in the language John uses[86] that the motive +underneath the action was not to reveal power but simply to keep an +appointment. But then Jesus never used His power to show that He had +power, but only to meet the need of the hour. Yet each exhibition of +power revealed indirectly, incidentally _who He was_. + +There is an instance similar to this in the borrowed axe-head that swam +in obedience to Elisha's touch of power to meet the need of the +distressed theological student.[87] In each instance it is the same +habit of nature that yields homage to a higher power at work. + +But though there is here no increase of power shown yet the action +itself was of the sort to appeal much more to the crowd. It has in it +the dramatic. It would appear to the crowd a yet more wonderful thing +than they had yet witnessed. + +The giving of sight to the man born blind is distinctly a long step +ahead of any healing power thus far related in John's story. There is +here not only the chronic element, but the thing is distinctly in a +class by itself, quite outclassing in the difficulty presented any case +of mere chronic infirmity. + +It was not a matter of restoring what disease had destroyed but of +supplying what nature had failed to give in its usual course. It was a +meeting of nature's lack through some slip in the adjustment of her +action in connection with human action. There is not only the appealing +dramatic element, as in the walking on the water, but the appealing +sympathetic element in that this poor man's lifelong burden is removed. + +And then the seventh and last of these, the actual raising of Lazarus up +from the dead, is a climax of power in action nothing short of +stupendous. Of the six recorded cases of the dead being raised this is +easily the greatest in the power seen at work. In the other five, in the +Elijah record,[88] the Elisha,[89] the Moabite's body at Elisha's +grave,[90] Jairus' daughter,[91] and the widow's son at Nain,[92] there +was no lapse of time involved. + +Here four days of death had intervened, until it was quite certain +beyond question that in that climate decomposition would be well +advanced. Utter human impotence and impossibility was in its last +degree. Man stands utterly powerless, utterly helpless in the presence +of death. It is not the last degree of improbability. There _is_ no +improbability. It's an _impossibility_. The thing is in a class by +itself, the hopeless class. And the four days give death its fullest +opportunity. And death never fails in grim faithfulness to opportunity. + +It is no wonder that all Jerusalem was so stirred. The common crowds of +home people and pilgrims, the aristocratic families, the inner official +circles, among _all_ classes, this tremendous event won recognition of +Jesus' power and claim, and with recognition personal faith. Nothing +like this had ever happened. This is the superlative degree of +miraculous power revealed in this matchless wooing of a faithless +nation. + + + +Love Wooing Yet More. + + +Now a look at the power at work _in the realm of the human will_, really +a higher power, or power at work in a higher realm, though not commonly +so recognized by the crowd. There are eight incidents here. And again we +shall find the steady rise of the power seen at work. Three of these +tell of the human will changed, and four of its being restrained +against its will from doing that which it was dead-set on doing. + +The ruler who withdrew from the midst of the disturbed temple managers +for a night-call upon Jesus was radically changed in his convictions and +his life-purpose. He had an open mind. The work was begun at that first +Jerusalem Passover. Under the holy spell of John's presence he is drawn +away from his enraged brother-rulers to seek the night talk. The +frankness and fullness of Jesus' talk shows plainly how open he was and +how much more he opened and yielded that evening. And the after protest +in the official meeting of the rulers, and the loving care for the body +of Jesus reveal how radical was the transformation wrought upon his will +and heart by Jesus.[93] + +The Samaritan woman is changed from utter indifference to a change of +will and purpose that makes her an eager messenger to her people until +they hail Jesus as the Saviour of the world. The change involved a +radical face-about in habit and life amongst the very people who knew +her past sinful life best. It meant more than change of conviction, that +change actually put into practice across the grain of the habits of +years, and of the lower passions, so hard to change. It is a distinct +step up from the change in Nicodemus simply because there was so much +more to change. The same power had more to do. And it did it.[94] + +The story of the woman accused of the gravest offense is a double one in +the power seen at work. She would naturally be hardened, and stony +hard, shameless to the point of hopeless indifference in moral sense, +and all this increased by their coarse publicity of her. And so little +is said, but so much suggested of a change in her. + +The purity of Jesus' face and presence would be a tremendous power of +conviction. The gentleness of His quiet question would couple softening +of heart with conviction of her sin. The word of counsel as she is +dismissed would seem a mirror reflecting the inner longing of her heart +and the new purpose stirring within, as memory recalls early days of +virgin purity, and a wild hope within struggles towards life that there +may yet be a change even for her. + +The change in her accusers is, at least, as remarkable though wholly +different. Morally hardened, as shameless and coarse as the woman as +regards a fine moral sensibility; by their own tacit confession no +better in practice than she in the point of morals raised; in their +malignant cunning only concerned with the woman's sin as a means of +venting their spleen upon the man they hated and feared,--what a hideous +spirit-photograph! + +Under the strange compelling power of Jesus' word and will, utterly +conscience-stricken at being as guilty as she in the particular item +under discussion, they turn, one by one, and slink softly out, until the +last one is gone. As an instance of one will controlling and changing +another will wholly against its will to the point of forcing out +confession of personal guilt, it is most remarkable. One wonders if, +under that tremendous conviction of personal sin, some of these were +later included in those of the Sanhedrin who openly accepted Jesus. It +is quite possible. It is not improbable.[95] + +The fact is noted that the very language used here under the English +indicates a different authorship of the incident than John's. Possibly a +thoughtful delicacy of regard for the woman restrains John's pen if she +were still living as he writes. And then later the Holy Spirit, who so +tactfully restrains John's pen, guides another to fit the remarkable +story in its place in the record. + +The drastic turning of bargaining cattle-dealers and bickering +money-brokers, out of the temple-area, and restoring it from a barn-yard +to a place of holy worship, is a most remarkable illustration of +_restraint upon antagonistic wills_ at the point of their greatest +concern. These leaders would gladly have turned _Him_ out. + +And who was He, this man with flashing eye and quiet stern word? A +stranger, unknown, from the despised country district of Galilee. And +they have authority, law-officers, everything of the sort on their side. +Yet the restraint of His presence and will over them is as absolute as +though they were in chains. They weakly ask for a sign and evidence of +power. They themselves experienced the most tremendous exhibition of +power the old temple-area had known for generations.[96] + +The power of restraint at the Feast of Tabernacles is yet greater. Or +it might be more accurate to say that it is a greater antagonism that is +restrained by the same power. They are fully prepared now. The cleansing +incident took them unawares. It made them gasp to think that any one +would dare oppose them like that. + +Now they are on guard. Then, too, their antagonism has intensified and +embittered to the point of plotting His death. And they have grown more +openly aggressive. There are three attempts at His arrest. Yet that +strange noiseless power of restraint is upon them. They do not do as +they would. Clearly they cannot. They are restrained. The man whose +presence so aroused, also held them in check, apparently without +thinking about it. His _presence_ is a restraint.[97] + +Then a second clash of wills comes a day or so later. Their opposition +is yet intenser. There has been no cooling-off interval. His continued +open teaching in face of their attempts at arrest puts fresh kindling on +the fire. "No man took Him," but clearly they wanted to. Their open +relations become more strained. He uses yet plainer speech in exposing +their hypocrisies. This stirs them still more. Their hooked fingers +reach passionately for the stones that would make a finish at once, and +the green light flashes out of their enraged eyes. It's the sharpest +clash yet. They are at a high fever point. + +It seems to take a greater use of power to restrain. "He hid Himself" is +the simple sentence used. This is one of four times that we are told of +His overcoming the hostile attack of a crowd by simply passing through +their midst and going on His way.[98] Perhaps something in the glance of +that eye of His, or in the set of His face,[99] _something_ in Him +restrained them as He quietly passes through the uproarious crowd and +goes on His way undisturbed. They are held back against their wills from +doing the thing they are so intent on doing.[100] + +A few months later He is back in Jerusalem. But the interval seems not +to have cooled their passion, only to have heated and hardened their +enmity. They at once begin an aggressive wordy attack. Then losing +self-control in their rage they again reach down for the stones to kill +Him at once. And again they are restrained from their passionate +purpose, as Jesus quietly goes on talking with them. Again they attempt +to seize His person. And the simple striking sentence used, "He went +forth out of their hand," points to the extent of their purpose and to a +yet greater use of His power of restraint over their unwilling +wills.[101] + +The last incident of this sort is the kingly entry into the city amid +the enthusiasm of the pilgrim and city crowds. It says not a word about +any attempt on their part nor of His restraint over them. But the very +boldness of this wholly unexpected move on His part constituted a +tremendous restraint. Their hate had gone through several stages of +refined hardening during the few months preceding. The formal decision +to kill, the edict of excommunication, the public notice that any +information of His whereabouts must be made known, and the decision to +kill Lazarus also,--all indicate the hotter burning of the flames of +their rage. + +Yet into just such a situation He quietly turns the head of His untamed +unridden young colt of an ass and rides through the city surrounded by +the crowds under the very eyes of these leaders and their hireling legal +minions. The tenseness of the whole scene, the power of restraint so put +forth, the volcano smouldering underfoot waiting the slightest extra jar +to loose out its explosion, all are revealed in the little sentence so +pregnant in its concealed dynamic meaning, Jesus "_hid Himself from, +them_." There's an exquisite blending of restraint over them and +boldness with cautious prudence. He was walking very close to the edge +that time.[102] + +So His power, shown so quietly but irresistibly before the eyes of all +during those brief years, rises to a double climax nothing short of +stupendous. Miraculous power in the realm of nature and of the human +body had reached its climax in the raising of Lazarus, attested beyond +question. Power over the human will both in affecting a voluntary +change, and in actually restraining its action against its own set +purpose, had risen to its climax in the bold open entry in broadest +daylight into the capital where His death was officially and publicly +decreed. The two climaxes touch. And it is tremendously significant that +whereas they sometimes question His miraculous power, they could not +deny His restraining power over themselves. How gladly they would if +only they could. + +And all this, mark you keenly, is a bit of His wooing. The wooing is +ever the dominant thought in His heart. So He was revealing to them who +He was. He claims to be the Son of God, their kingly Messiah. And _He +lived His claim_. Power is the one universally recognized touchstone by +which we judge God and man. His power told _who He was_ even more than +His tremendous words did. He was acting naturally. His presence among +them thus natural, true to the power native in Him,--this was the +wooing. + +But there was more than power. There was _love_. There was a perfect +blend of the two. With the power went the love. Nay, rather, with the +love went the power. Love was the dominating thing. Jesus was love in +shoes, God in action. Always there was the tenderness, the gentleness, +the patience, the purity, the unflinching ideals, yes, the courage, the +utter fearlessness tempered with a wise prudence. All _these are the +fuller spelling of love_. + +Always these went in closest touch with the resisted but resistless +power. These are the two traits of God, two traits that are one. Men +always think most of the power. God Himself always emphasizes most the +love. But true power is simply love in action. The power is the outcome +of love, and under the control of love. + +This is the second of John's great impelling pictures. The first shows +us _the Person,_ the Man Jesus, God with us, God making a world, and +then, in homely human garb walking amongst its people, one of +themselves. + +This second shows us _the wooing_. This Man, so tender in touch, so +gentle in speech, so thoughtful in action, so pure in life, so unbending +in ideals, so fearless in the thick of opposition, so faithful to the +chosen faithless nation,--this Man Himself is the wooing. His words, His +actions, His power, His persistence, His patience, this also is the +wooing of this great God-Man-Lover. This is God spelling Himself out +into human speech, wooing men out and up and in to Himself. + + + +Jesus Recognised by all the Race. + + +And it is most striking to sit still and think into how this Lover was +_recognized_ by men of all nations, and how His wooing was _understood_ +and yielded to by men of all sorts. The intense Jew, the half-breed +Samaritan, the aggressive Roman, the cultured refined Greek,--that was +_all the world_. And all these recognized Him as some one kin to +themselves, bound by closest spirit-ties, to whom they were drawn by the +strong cords of His common kinship with themselves. The waves of His +personal influence were, geographically, like His last commandment to +His disciples. The movement was from Jerusalem to Judea, through +Samaria, and out into the uttermost part of the earth and the innermost +heart of the race. + +And all sorts of men understood. Jesus wiped out social differences and +distinctions in the crowds that gently jostled each other in His +presence. The aristocrat and the cultured, the student and the gentle +folk, mingled freely with simple country folk, the unlettered, the +humblest and lowliest, all drawn alike to Him, and all unconscious of +differences when under the holy spell of His presence. The wealthy like +Joseph of Arimathea, and the beggar like the man born blind, the pure in +heart like Mary of Bethany and the openly bad in life like the accused +woman of Jerusalem,--all felt alike that this Jesus belonged to them, +and they to Him. + +The underneath tie of real kinship of heart rubbed out all outer +distinctions. The old families of Jerusalem were glad to unlock their +jealously guarded doors to Him. And the simple Capernaum fisherfolk were +grateful when He shared bread and roof with them. All men recognized +Jesus as belonging to themselves. + +And the calendar has not changed this, neither Gregorian nor Old Style. +Time finds the race the same always. Centuries climb slowly by, but the +human heart is the same, and--so is Jesus. I was greatly struck with +this in my errand among the nations. The East balks at the ways of the +West sometimes. Many books say there is no point of contact between the +two. The East balks at our Western organization, our rule of the clock, +and our rush and hurry. Our Westernized church systems and our closely +mortised logical theologies are sometimes a bit bewildering, not exactly +comprehensible to their Orientalized mode of thought. + +But they never balk at Jesus. When they are told of Him, and get some +glimpse of Him, their eyes light, their faces glow, their hearts leap in +response. You book people say there is no point of contact between +Orient and Occident? But there is. Jesus is the point of contact. One +real touch of Jesus makes all the world akin. No; that can be put +better. One touch of Jesus reveals the kinship that is there between Him +and men, _and_ between all men. + +In Japan it was the Portuguese that first took the Gospel a few hundred +years ago. And you still find Japanese churches founded by the +Portuguese. Fifty odd years ago it was the English tongue that again +brought that message of life to them. But as I mingled among Japanese +Christians of different communions and heard them pray, they were not +praying in Portuguese nor in English. They had no thought that He was a +Portuguese Saviour they prayed to, nor yet an English. _They prayed in +Japanese_. They felt that Jesus spoke their tongue. He belonged to them. +He and they understood each other. + +As I listened to Manchu and Chinese, to Korean and Hawaiian pour out +their hearts in prayer, I could feel the close personal burning touch of +their spirits with Jesus. They and He were kin to each other. Their +very voices told the certainty in their hearts on this point. + +I recall a little old bent-over woman of seventy-odd years up in +northern Sweden, a Laplander. She had come a long three days' journey on +her snow-shoes to the meetings. Night after night as I talked through +interpretation her deep-set black eyes glowed and glowed. But when one +night an hour or more was spent in voluntary prayer she needed no +interpreter. And as I listened I needed none. I _felt_ that she _knew_ +that _Jesus spoke Lappish_. The two were face to-face in closest touch +of spirit. + +And so it is everywhere. The flaxen-haired Holland maid kneeling by her +single cot _knows_ that Jesus talks Dutch, and her homely hearthfire +Dutch, too, at that. And the earnest Polish peasant in his Carpathian +cabin bowed before the symbol his eyes have known from infancy is +talking into an ear that knows both Polish accent and Polish heart. So +with the German of the Saxon highlands, and of the simpler speech of the +Teutonic lowlands. So with the olive-skinned Latin and the darker-hued +African kneeling on opposite sides, north and south, of the great +Central-earth Sea. Wherever knowledge of Jesus has been carried, He is +_recognized_ and claimed _as their own_ regardless of national or social +lines. + +I knew a minister of our Southland, but whose public service took him to +all parts of our country. He had been reared in the South and knew the +coloured people by heart, and loved them. And when he returned to his +Southern home town he would frequently preach for the coloured people. +He was preaching to them one Sabbath with the simplicity and fervour for +which he was noted. + +At the close among others, one big black man grasped his hand hard as he +thanked him for the preaching. And then with his great child-eyes big +and aglow, he said, "Youse got a white skin, but youse got a black +heart." And you know what he meant,--you have a black man's heart, you +have a heart like mine. Your heart makes my heart burn. + +Now _Jesus had a Hack heart_. He had a white heart. He had a yellow, a +brown heart. He had a Jew heart, a Roman, a Greek, a Samaritan heart. +Aye, He had a _world_ heart, He had _a human heart_. And He _has_. +There's a _Man_ on the throne yonder, bone of our bone, heart of our +heart, pain of our pain. + +There's more of God since Jesus went back. Human experience has been +taken up into the heart of God. Jesus belonged to us. And now belongs to +us more than ever, and we to Him. The human heart has felt His +tremendous wooing. It has recognized its Kinsman wherever He has been +able to get to them, and it has gladly yielded to the plea of His love. + +Jerusalem might carpenter a cross for Him, but the world would weave its +heartfelt devotion into a crown of love for Him, bestudded with the dewy +tears of its gratitude, sparkling like diamonds in the light of His +face. + + + + +IV + +Closer Wooing + + _An Evening with Opening Hearts: the Story of a Supper and a Walk + in the Moonlight and the Shadows_ + + + + + Nigh and nigh draws the chase, + With unperturbed pace, + Deliberate speed, majestic instancy, + And past those noised Feet + A Voice comes yet more fleet-- + "_Lo, naught contents thee, who content'st not Me._" + + --"_The Hound of Heaven._" + + "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I + leave the world, and go unto the Father."--_John xvi. 28_. + + "I thought His love would weaken + As more and more He knew me; + But it burneth like a beacon, + And its light and heat go through me; + And I ever hear Him say, + As He goes along His way, + Wand'ring souls, O _do_ come near Me; + My sheep should never fear Me. + I am the Shepherd true." + + --_Frederick William Faber._ + + + + +IV + +Closer Wooing + +(Chapters xiii.-xvii.) + + + +Knots. + + +The knot tied on the end of the thread holds the seam. The clinching of +the nail on the underside holds all that has been done. Love ties knots +to hold what has been gotten. The bit of prayer knots up the kindly act. +The warm hand-grasp knots the timely word. The added word and act tie up +all that's gone before. Hate imitates love the best it can. But its +intense fires are never so hot. + +The rest of John's book is simple. It is tying knots on the ends of +threads. Five knots are tied on the ends of these same three threads we +have been tracing. + +There's a triple knot on the end of the blue thread of acceptance; an +ugly tangled knotty knot on the end of that black thread of opposition +and rejection; and a knot of wondrous beauty on the end of that yellow +thread of winsome wooing. Chapters eighteen and nineteen tie two of +these, the black and the glory-coloured. + +Chapters thirteen through seventeen, is the first knot on the faith +thread, the betrayal-night knot. Chapter twenty is the second, the +Resurrection knot; chapter twenty-one the extra knot, the love-service +knot. We take a look now at the patient skilful tying of the first knot +on the end of that true-blue faith thread. + +It's taken a good bit of careful work to _get_ that thread, tearing +loose, cleansing, spinning, twisting, careful handling, till at last a +good thread is gotten, and is being woven into the warp. Now a knot is +tied on its end to hold what has been gotten, and keep it from ravelling +out, for there's a desperately hard place coming in the weaving. + +There's a clean finish at the end of the twelfth chapter of John. +There's a sharp break, an abrupt turn off to something quite different. +The direct-wooing case is made up. There is no more added to it, except +the indirect, the incidental. The evidence is all in. Wondrous wooing it +has been, in its winsomeness, its faithfulness, its rare power. Now it +is over. It's done, and well done. That door is shut, the national door. + +Now another door opens. The inner door into Jesus' heart is being opened +by Him. And the inner door into the disciples' heart is being knocked at +that it, too, may open. It is the betrayal night. Jesus is alone with +the inner circle. They have received Him. Now He will receive them into +closer intimacy than yet before. They have opened their hearts to His +love. Now He opens His heart to let out more the love that is there. +Love accepted is free to reveal itself. And love revealing its warmth +and tenderness and depth yet more calls out quickly a deeper, a tenderer +love. + +It's the Passover evening. They have met, the twelve and their Master, +by appointment, in the home of one of Jesus' faithful unnamed friends. +In a large upper room they are shut in, gathered about the supper board. +As they eat Jesus is quietly but intently thinking. Four trains of +thought pass through His mind side by side.[103] The Father had trusted +all into His hands. He had come down from the Father on an errand and +would return when the errand was done. + +And now the hour was come. The turn in the road was reached, the sharp +turn down leading to the sharp turn up and then back. It had seemed slow +in coming, that hour.[104] Dreaded things seem to linger even while they +hasten, dreaded longed-for things, dreaded in the experience of pain to +be borne, eagerly longed for in the blessed result; as with an expectant +mother. Now the hour's here.[105] + +And yonder across the board sits the man so faithfully wooed, yet +dead-set in his inner heart on a dark purpose, more evil in its outcome +than he realizes. There must be more and tenderer wooing. He shall have +yet another full opportunity. And under all is the heart-throb of love +for these who are His own, being birthed into a new life by the giving +of His very own life these months past. He loves His own, and will to +the uttermost, the utterest, the mostest, limit of love and of time left +Him before _the_ great event. These are the thoughts passing quietly, +clearly, intensely, through Jesus' mind as they sit at supper. + + + +Teaching Three Things in One Action. + + +Now He acts.[106] Quietly He rises from the table, picks up a towel and +fastens its end in His waistband for convenience in use, after the +servant's usual fashion. Then He pours water into a basin and turning +stoops over the feet of the disciple nearest Him. And before they can +recover from their wide-eyed astonishment He begins bathing his feet and +then carefully wiping them with the convenient towel. And so around the +circle. Peter, of course, protests, and so calls out a little of the +explanation. And then with tender passionateness he asks for the washing +to take in all his extremities, head and hands as well as feet. How +their hearts must have felt the touch upon their feet! + +Then follows a bit of explanation.[107] But the chief thing had already +been done. The acting was more than the speech. Three things the Master +was doing. The teaching about humility lies on the surface, within easy +reach. It was acted, then spoken; done, then said. It was sorely needed, +and is. In it was the key to Jesus' great victory within the twenty-four +hours following,[108] and would have been for them had they used it. +Humility is the foundation of all strength and victory. Only the strong +can stoop. It takes the strongest to stoop lowest. He who so stoops is +revealing strength. + +Humility is not thinking meanly of yourself; it is merely getting into +correct personal relation with God, and so with men. It is our true +normal attitude, as dependent creatures, as those who have sinned, as +those who have been bought with blood. Everything we have is from +Another, originally and continuously; we are utterly dependent. All +rights have been forfeited by our wilful conduct; we retain nothing in +our own right. And all we have now has been secured for us at the cost +of blood; we are being carried at enormous expense. Not much room there +for self-satisfaction, is there? + +Humility is simply _recognizing_ our _utter dependence upon Another_, +and _living_ it. And this controls our touch with our fellows. In this +lies the secret of all strength,--mental keenness and vigour, +sympathetic touch with others, and power of action in life and in +service. All this touches the _weakest_ spot in these men, and in--us. + +But there's more here. The humility teaching is out on the surface. +There's a bit _under_ the surface, that they would soon be needing and +needing badly. It's this: the thing in you that's wrong _must_ be made +right; and it _can_ be. Every sin done by the man who is trusting Christ +as his Saviour, every such sin _must_ be cleansed away. And it _can_ be. +The feet-washing told this bit of tremendous truth. + +These men trusted Christ. But their moral feet would get badly messed +that night, mired and slimed by passionate betrayal and blasphemous +denial and cowardly flight. The man going to the bath-house was clean on +returning home except where his sandalled feet had gathered some soil +from the road. These men were cleansed in heart through Christ. But the +foot-soilings must be cleansed. These two things ring out. Sin _must_ be +reckoned with and cleansed out. _And_, blessed truth! it _can_ be. This +is the second bit. It would be brought to their remembrance that same +night when the road they took dirtied them up so badly, and afterwards. + +But there's a deeper, a tenderer bit yet here. There is _the love +touch_. Jesus was giving them the tenderest touch yet of His love, to +_hold_ them. The personal touch is the tenderest. Man yearns for the +personal touch, of presence, of lips, of hands. Something seems to go +_through_ the personal touch from heart to heart. The spirit-currents +find their connection so. Jesus gave the tender personal touch that +evening, the closest yet. His hands touched their feet, but He was not +thinking most about their feet. He was reaching higher up. His hands +reached past their feet for their hearts. + +And they felt it so. Their hearts understood, if their heads didn't yet. +Judas felt those hands reaching to touch his heart. And he had to set +himself afresh to resist that touch. John felt it, and _remained +steady_. Peter felt it and came back with flooded eyes. The fleeing nine +felt that touch and yielded to it as they penitently returned. Love +won. That personal touch did it. + +But Jesus feels Judas' heart hardening as He touches his feet, and the +gentle word already spoken availed not.[109] Now His great heart is +sorely troubled for Judas.[110] He tries once again to reach his heart +and stay his wayward feet. He reaches for his feet through his heart +this time. They're all together about the table again. Quietly, but with +tactful indirectness, Jesus lets Judas know that _He_ knows. He says, +"One of you is planning to betray Me." + +The men stare one at another in questioning astonishment. Peter touches +John's arm and with eye and word quietly asks him to find out. John +reclining next to Jesus asks the question in undertone. And as quietly +Jesus makes reply. Then the last appeal is made to Judas in the last +delicate touch of special personal attention. Judas' unchanged spirit +makes wordless answer. The hardening of the purpose is a further opening +of a downward door and that door is quickly used by the evil one. + +And Judas rises abruptly with jaw set and eye tense, and goes out into +the blackest night the clouds ever shut in. So the first tremendous part +of the evening's drama is now done. The wooing of Judas has been intense +and tender clean up to the last moment, _and_ resisted. Now that chapter +is done. Another corner is passed. The extremes have--parted. One man +has gone out. Eleven stay in, and in staying come closer. + + + +Believe--Love--Obey. + + +The atmosphere clears now. That black cloud shifts. The pressure is +relieved. The air changes. Breathing is easier. Jesus did His best to +keep Judas in by trying to have him turn something--some one--out. But +the something that held the some one is kept within, so the man goes +out. That inside air was getting a bit thick for Judas. Love's tender +pleading unyielded to makes breathing difficult. + +Again Jesus begins talking in the cleared air. The hour had full come. +The character of the Son of Man would now be revealed,[111] and in being +revealed God's character would also be understood, and God Himself would +show what _He_ thought of Jesus by His personal recognition and +acknowledgment of Him, and He would do it at once. The clock is striking +the hour. Now He was going away. They would not understand.[112] + +Then Jesus strikes the great key-note of their future conduct as He +goes on. _The_ thing is this: _love one another_. This is the badge He +gives them to wear. It will always identify them as His very own. Peter +picks up the one bit he understands, and is told that he cannot yet +follow in the tremendous experience lying just ahead for Jesus, but some +day he can, and will. And then to Peter's blundering self-confidence +comes a plain tender reminder of his weakness.[113] So that wondrous +fourteenth chapter that Christendom loves begins back in the thirteenth. + +And Jesus goes quietly on as they still linger about the table.[114] He +had been sorely troubled,[115] but He would have them not troubled by +their doubtings regarding Himself. It is true that they were outcasts +with Him, from their national home, but He would provide them a home, +and a better one. They did believe in God. They should believe Him just +as implicitly. This is the warp into which is woven the whole fabric of +that evening's talk. The whole talk is a plea for their trusting loving +acceptance of Himself as fully as of God. This word "_believe_" changes +its outer shape three times during that evening, making four words in +all, but it's always the same thing underneath. + +So now the teaching goes on in freest exchange of question and answer. +What a picture of how we may talk everything out with our Lord and get +fully answered. Thomas' question helps Jesus to turn them away from +thinking of a roadway of clay and sand to a Man. Philip's helps Him to +insist on the presence of the Father in a distinctive sense within this +Man so familiarly talking with them. And then four times over He rings +out that word _believe_. + +Then by a subtle turn He changes the word, though not the thing, to help +them understand better: "If ye _love_ Me."[116] That puts the thing at +once up on the _heart_ level. Believing is a thing of the heart. Their +heads were bothered. He said in effect,--all your head questions will be +answered in good time, but this thing is higher up than that. It's a +matter of your heart. And so that word _believe_ becomes _love_, its +second shape. And with that is quickly coupled _obey_, the third outer +shape He gives the word believe that night. + +It is all the same thing underneath. _Love_ is the heart side of +_believe_, the inner side. _Obey_ is the life-side of believe, the +outer, the action side. The love looks out the window of the life and +then _comes_ out and _walks_ down the street on an errand. Love doesn't +simply love: it loves _some one_. Love that simply loves isn't love. +Love comes to life only in the personal touch. + +And love keeps in perfect rhythm of action with the one loved. That is +the other way of saying _obey_. Obedience is the music of two wills +acting together. _Believe_ me, _love_ me, _obey_ me,--this is the +three-noted music of the upper room; three notes but one music; a fourth +note to be added later. This is the wondrous closer wooing. + +"I go to the Father. We, the Father and I, will send the Holy Spirit to +you. He will come in through this opened door of obedience. He will +abide in you, come in to stay. He will be everything and do everything +that you need in every sort of circumstance. Keep in closest touch with +Him: this is to be your one rule. Your part is simple. _Believe_; that +means _love_; that means _obey_." + +So they talk around the table. Then there's thoughtful silence, which +the Master breaks by saying, "Arise, let us go." + + + +The Great Vine Picture. + + +Now they're walking down the street, silently, the Master in the lead, +with John and Peter close by.[117] The moon is at the full. Now they see +the temple, the moonlight falling full upon it. And the great brass +grape-vine with which it had been beautified by Herod at his building of +it shines with wondrous beauty in the enchantment of moonlight. + +And now the Master is speaking again. Very quietly the words come as +they still gaze at the beauty of the brass vine. Listen to Him, "I am +the _true_ vine, and My Father the vine-gardener." Here is the +illustration that exactly pictures what He had been saying in the upper +room. It supplies the fourth word, the fourth outer shape that word +_believe_ takes on, _believe_, that is--_love_, that is--_obey_, that +is--_abide_. + +Look at the vine, then you have the whole story pictured, simple, +clear, full. Each of these four words grows out of the other as fruit +out of blossom, and blossom out of the new branch and that out of the +old stock of the vine: believe, love, obey, abide; vine, new branches, +tiny blossom, fruit. The fruit grows out of the vine; yet it is the very +life of the vine. _Abide_ grows out of _believe_, yet it is the very +heart and inner life of believe. + +So He goes on ringing the changes back and forth, now here, now there. +_Pruning_--that insures fruit, and more and better. _Praying_--that _is_ +the fruit, some of it; that naturally grows out of the abiding. "_My +words_"--that is part of the abiding, the life-juice of the vine coming +into branch and blossom and fruit. "Joy"--that is the rich red juice of +the grape in your mouth. "_Friends_"--that is the other word for abide. +That's what abiding makes and reveals. _Abiding_--that is what friends +do: that's what friendship is, the real thing. _Obey_--that is the swing +of step with our great Friend as we go along the road together. So these +clusters of rich ripe fruit hang thick on the vine of this simple +teaching-talk as they walk along in the moonlight. + +And now they're passing through some of the narrower streets as they +make their way east towards the city gate.[118] And these narrow streets +are shadowed. And you feel the shadows creeping into His talk. The world +will _hate_ them. Of course. This is a natural result of the abiding. +The outer crowd can no more put up with the Jesus-swayed man than with +Jesus Himself. And the hate would be aggressive. + +But if they would clearly understand ahead what to expect it would help +them keep their feet when the worst storm came. And by staying steady +and true through the worst that came, they would be of the greatest +service. The Holy Spirit in them would reach out and talk to that outer +crowd. He would make clear to them their awful sin in killing Jesus, the +spotless purity and rightness of the absent Jesus, and the terrific fact +that the prince of the world whom they rally to so faithfully is +actually judged, doomed and damned. Then He adds, "now in a little bit +I'll be gone from you. Then a little later, I'll be with you again." + +So He goes on ringing the changes back and forth on this in simple +conversational style. And now they are silent. The narrow street is +quite shadowed. He lets them think a bit over His words. And the +personal part takes hold most. And they talk softly together of what +this means,--a little while and He is gone; again a little while, and He +is back. They're plainly puzzled, yet restrained from breaking in upon +His deep mood. + +But with characteristic gentleness He speaks of what they would +ask.[119] Clearly there is some terrible experience for Him and for them +just at hand. But He reaches past to the joy beyond, as the mother +forgets sharp pains in the joy of her new-born babe. And as He talks +they think they understand now, but again He gently reminds of the storm +about to break. And then He leaves them three wondrous words,--_peace, +good-cheer, overcome_. In the midst of the worst storm there may be +peace. In the thickest of tribulation the song of cheer may ring out. He +_has_ overcome. The outcome is settled. No doubts need nag. Sing! Sing +louder! _Christ is Victor_! + +This is the second bit of the evening's closer wooing, this long quiet +talk about the supper table and along the road. It is wooing them up to +more intelligence in their believing and loving. It's wooing them to +trust _Him_, hold hard to _Him_, during the coming storm, when they +wouldn't understand. Even when they can't understand, but stand in +hopeless helpless bewilderment, they still can trust _Him_. + + + +Taken into the Innermost Life. + + +They're outside the city-gate now, going down the path towards the +Kidron Brook. Now comes the third bit of that evening's closer +wooing.[120] And this is the tenderest, the most personal, the least +resistible bit, the closest wooing of all. He takes them into His +innermost heart-life for a brief moment. It must have reminded John +afterwards of that mountain-top experience when Jesus drew aside the +drapery of His humanity and let a little of the inner glory shine out. +Here He takes them with Him into the holy of holies of His own inner +life with His Father. + +Let not any one think that Jesus was simply letting them hear Him pray, +so they might learn. Not that; not that. He was taking them into the +sacred privacy of His own innermost life. That was a bit of the wooing, +under the desperate happenings just ahead. But now as He takes them in +He quite forgets them, though He knows they are there. _He is absorbed +with the Father_. He isn't thinking now of the effect of all this on +them. That's past. He is alone in spirit with the Father, talking out +freely even as though actually quite alone. + +We are in the innermost holy of holies here. The heart of the world's +life is its literature. The heart of all literature is this sacred Book +of God. The heart of this Book is the Gospels. The heart of these four +Gospels is John's. The heart of John's is this exquisite bit, chapters +thirteen to seventeen. And there's yet an inner heart here. It is this +bit, the seventeenth chapter, where the inner side of Jesus' prayer-life +lies open to us. And we shall find an innermost heart yet again here. + +The simplicity of speech here catches the ear. The holy intimacy of +contact with God hushes the spirit. The certainty of the Father's +presence awes the heart greatly. The unquestioning confidence in the +outcome is to one's faith like a glass of kingdom wine fresh from the +King's own hand. The tenseness and yet exquisite quietness holds one's +being still with a great stillness. Both shoes and hat go off +instinctively and we stand with head bowed low and heart hushed for this +is holiest ground. + +Of course, no paraphrase of this prayer can possibly approach its own +beauty and simplicity. But it may perhaps send one back to the prayer +itself to see better what is there. + +They're out in the open, down near the Kidron. Jesus stops and looks up +towards the blue, the Father's open door, and quietly talks out of His +heart into His Father's heart, "Father: the hour is come"; talked of +long before this errand was started upon, brooded over these human +years, felt in His inner being as it ticked itself nearer in the +tremendous passing events. Now it is come. The clock is striking the +hour, striking on earth and echoed distinctly in the Father's ear. + +"Father: reveal now the true character of the Son; yet only that the Son +may reveal Thy true character.[121] Thou hast already done so in the +control Thou hast given Him over all men, that so He may give to them +the eternal life. And this is the real life to come into intimate touch +of heart and life with Thee and with Thine anointed One, Jesus." + +"I have already revealed Thy character in doing fully the errand Thou +didst send Me on. (And it _was_ fully done in all the active part, +though the greatest thing yet remained to be done in the tremendous +yielding, the strong passive yielding to Hate's worst that so Love's +truest and best might be clearly seen by men.) And now I am coming back +to be recognized and acknowledged and received by Thine own self even as +it was before I came away on this errand." + +Thus far He has been alone with the Father face-to-face; just the two +together in closest communion. Now the prayer moves on from communion +and petition to intercession. He is thinking of others, of these men who +are grouped near by. He has prayed for them before. He is simply picking +up the thread of the accustomed prayer He had prayed, and would still +pray when He had gone from them up through the doorway of the blue. + +He has revealed the Father to them, and they have understood and +believed and have followed. Now He _prays for them_, that they may be +_kept_; not taken out of the world; kept in it, giving their witness to +it, yet never of its spirit, always controlled by another Spirit. They +were being sent into the world for witness even as He had been. + +And a great word breaks out like the bursting of a flood of sunlight out +of dark clouds,--_joy_. He had used it that evening before in the upper +room, and again along the road. Now it flashes out again. This reveals +the meaning of that _good-cheer_ and _overcome_ with which the roadway +talk closed. With the clouds of hate at their blackest, and the storm +just about to break in uncontrolled wild fury, He speaks of "My _joy_." +He is _singing_. In the thick of hatred and plotting here's the bit of +music, in the major key, rippling out. Such a spirit cannot be defeated. +Joy is faith singing in the storm because it sees already the clearing +light beyond. + +And so He prays on, touching the same keys of the musical instrument of +His heart, back and forth, yet ever advancing in the theme. Now He +broadens out, in clear vision, beyond the gathering storm, to those, +through all the earth, and down the centuries, who would believe through +these men who are listening. What a sweep of faith. That singing cleared +His vision. + +And then He sees them all, of many races and languages and radical +differences, all blended into one body of earnest loving believers drawn +by the one vision of Himself back in the glory of the Father's presence, +where they will all gather. And then love ties the knot on the end. A +personal love ties together Father and Son and--us, who humbly give the +glad homage of our hearts. + +Right in the very midst of the prayer lies that innermost heart of which +I spoke a moment ago. It is in verse ten. Jesus says, "_All things that +are Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine_." There lies the very inner +heart of all carried to the last degree. _There_ is glad giving and full +taking; surrender and appropriation. He who gives all may reach in and +take all. Here is, humanly, the secret of Jesus' stupendous character +and career. + +And it is the same for the humblest of us. The road is no different. We +_may_ say, by His great grace, in the insistence of our sovereign wills, +"All that is mine is Thine: I give it Thee. I give it back to Thee: I +use all the strength of my will in yielding all to Thee, and in doing +it habitually." + +Then we _can_ say, with greatest reverence and humility and yet bold +confidence, "All that is Thine _is mine._" Yet being mine it is Thine. +Still being Thine it is mine. So comes the perfection of the rhythmic +action of love. Our love gives our all to _Him_. And then _takes_ the +greater all of His--no, not _from_ Him, _for_ Him, held in trust, used +_for_ Him, while we keep knees and face close to the ground, lest we +stumble and slip and worse. + +So the prayer closes. And if we might go back over it, alone in secret, +prayerfully, quietly thinking thoughtfully into it, until this great +simple prayer gets its hold upon our hearts. And then gradually it would +come to us that _so_ He is now praying for us, _you and me_. + +What must it have meant to these men to stand there quietly, awed as +they listen to Him praying that prayer. How it reveals the deep +consciousness of the intimacy of relation between Father and Son. How it +must have touched and stirred them to the very depths to hear Jesus +telling the Father so simply about _their_ faith in Himself, and _their_ +obedience, their break with their national allegiance to follow Himself. +And that word _joy_--did they wonder about it? And wonder more later +that night, and the days after? But the key-note of the music _caught_, +and soon they were singing the same tune, and in the same pitch. + +What wooing! This was the closest wooing. The fine wooing of this +matchless Lover came to its superlative degree that night. Positive +degree, that touch upon their feet; comparative, that talk about the +board and along the road; superlative, this taking them in for a brief +moment into the secrecy of His inner communion with the Father. + + + +Simplified Spelling. + + +And this closer wooing is not over. It hasn't quit yet. That vine is +still hanging out in fine view, all softly ablaze with the clear +beautifying light, not of a fine Passover moon; no, the light of His +_face_, His _life_, His _words_. That vine becomes for all time to every +heart the pictured meaning of _abide_. And that word _abide_ gives the +whole of the true life. + +We say _Christian_ life, and rightly. I like to say also, the true, the +natural, life. Any other is abnormal, unnatural, untrue. I might say, +"of the higher Christian life," following the common usage of these +latter days. I still prefer to say _true_ life. Higher means that there +is a lower life. And that this lower is reckoned Christian, too. That is +the bother, the cheapening of things; we _call_ a thing Christian which +is less than the thing it is called. + +Some of us need to go to school, and to sit down in the lower classes +where spelling is taught. We can spell _believe_ in the common way with +seven letters. We must learn to spell it with four letters--l-o-v-e. We +need to learn to spell _love_ with a _b_ and a _y_--o-b-e-y. We need to +learn to spell obey with five letters a-b-i-d-e. We need to find that +_abide_ is spelled best with four letters o-b-e-y. + +We need to learn this simplified spelling a bit, then _all_ will become +simplified, living, loving, witnessing, praying, winning, singing with +joy over the results of our new spelling in the syllables of daily life. +Blessed Master, we would come to school to Thee to-day. Please let us +start down in the spelling class. And teach us, Thou Thyself teach us. + +But the vine--let us make that the central picture on the wall, with the +Master in the picture pointing to the vine. And under the picture the +one word _abide_. Then the whole story is in easy shape to help, +pictured before our eyes. Abide--that is _Jesus walking around in your +shoes_, looking out through your eyes, touching in your hand, speaking +through your lips and your presence. He is _free_ to; that's _your_ side +of it. He's unhindered. He _does_ it; that's _His_ side of it. + +Look up at the picture on the wall. The whole vine is in the fruit, is +it not? The whole of the fruit is in the vine, is it not? That's +abiding. The whole of Jesus will be in you as you go about your daily +common task, singing. The whole of you is in Jesus as everything simple +and great, is done _to please Him_, singing as you do it. + +And just as between vine and fruit there are branch and blossom, pruning +and careful handling, sun and shade, dew and rain, so there are +_betweens_ here before full ripening of fruit comes. There's purifying, +cleansing by blood, cleansing by a soft fire burning within, and +pruning by the Gardener and by His human assistant, you, sharp, +incisive, hurting pruning. + +There's _feeding_,--the juice of the vine _flows_ in, and is _taken_ in; +the divine word of the divine Master is meditated, the cud of it is +chewed daily. There's _obedience_,--perfect rhythm of action between +vine and branches. There's _prayer_, the intercourse of our spirits, His +and ours, together, the drawing from Him all we need, and the letting +Him use us in His interceding for His world. These are some of the +_betweens_. Through these comes the ripening fruit. + +And the outer crowd comes eagerly for the fruit hanging over the fence +within easy reach. There's a warm sympathy with one's fellows; only the +thing's more than the words sound. The Jesus-spirit within will be felt +by those outside, something warm and gentle and helpful. There will be +things done, many things, earnestly thoughtfully done. The proper word +is service. But the thing's so much more than the word ever seems to +mean. + +And there'll be yet more, a more of a surprising sort. The classical fox +called the grapes sour because he _couldn't_ reach them. There'll be +some outside sour talk because some of the crowd _won't_ reach the +fruit. It wouldn't agree with them the way they insist on living. The +Jesus-life abiding within and flowing freely out is a protest against +the opposite. The mere presence of a _Christ-abiding_ man convicts +people of the sin of their lives and their treatment of Jesus. It +convinces them that the absent Jesus is right, and so they are wrong. +So there's trouble out in the crowd just because of the ripe good fruit +hanging in plain sight and easy reach over the vineyard fence. And that +double result goes on getting more so, some coming to the vine drawn by +the fruit, some talking against fruit and vine. But the man abiding is +of good cheer. He sings. For the outcome is assured. + +So every grape-vine, in garden, by roadway, or on hillside, with its +vine-stock, branches, blossom, and fruit, tells of the Father's ideal +for men, a unity of life with Himself, and with each other. And every +bunch of grapes hanging on one stem, with its many in one, tells of that +same ideal, the concord of love with the Father and with each other. + +And that unity of love dominating all is irresistible to the outer +crowd, in the winsomeness of its wooing. + + + + +V + +The Greatest Wooing + + _A Night and a Day With Hardening Hearts: the Story of Tender + Passion and of a Terrible Tragedy_ + + + + + "Now of that long pursuit + Comes on at hand the bruit; + That Voice is round me like a bursting sea: + 'And is thy earth so marred, + Shattered in shard on shard? + _Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest Me_! + Strange, piteous, futile, thing! + + Wherefore should any set thee love apart? + Seeing none but I makes much of naught' (He said) + 'And human love needs human meriting: + How hast thou merited-- + Of all man's clotted clay the dingiest clot? + Alack, thou knowest not + How little worthy of any love thou art! + Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee, + Save Me, save only Me? + All which I took from thee I did but take, + Not for thy harms, + But just that thou might'st seek it in My arms. + All which thy child's mistake + Fancied as lost, I have stored for thee at home: + Rise, clasp My hand, and Come.'" + + --"_The Hound of Heaven_ + + "I will betroth thee unto me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto + me in righteousness, and in justice, and in loving kindness, and in + mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness."--_Hosea + ii. 19, 20._ + + "Jesus, Lover of my soul, + Let me to Thy bosom fly, + While the nearer waters roll. + While the tempest still is high. + Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, + 'Til the storm of life is past; + Safe into the haven guide, + O receive my soul at last." + + --_Charles Wesley_. + + + + +V + +The Greatest Wooing + +(John xviii.-xix.) + + + +Wider Wooing. + + +At the top of the mountain is the peak. The peak is the range at its +highest reach. The peak grows out of the range and rests upon it and +upon the earth under all. The whole of the long mountain range and of +the earth lies under the peak. The peak tells the story of the whole +range. At the last the highest and utmost. All the rest is for this +capstone. + +The great thing in Jesus' life is His death. The death crowns the life. +The whole of the life lies under and comes to its full in the death. The +highest point is touched when death is allowed to lay Him lowest. It was +the life that died that gives the distinctive meaning to the death. Let +us take off hat and shoes as we come to this peak event. + +There's a change in John's story here. The evening has gone, the quiet +evening of communion. The night has set in, the dark night of hate. The +intimacies of love give place to the intrigues of hate. The joy of +communion is quickly followed by the jostling of the crowd. Out of the +secret place of prayer into the hurly-burly of passion. And the +Master's rarely sensitive spirit feels the change. Yet with quiet +resolution He steps out to face it. This is part of _the hour_, part of +His great task, the greatest part. + +For the holy task of wooing is not changed. It still is wooing, but +there's a difference now. There's a shifting. The wooing goes from +closer to wider, from the disciples to the outer crowd, from the direct +wooing of the national leaders by personal plea to the indirect by +action, tremendously personal action. + +It moves out into a yet wider sweep. It goes from the wooing of a nation +to the wooing of a race, from Jew distinctively to Roman +representatively, from Annas standing in God's flood light rejected to +Pilate in nature's lesser light obscured, from God's truant messenger +nation to the world's mighty ruling nation. + +In the epochal event just at hand Jesus begins His great wooing of a +race. And that wooing has gone on ever since, wherever He has been able +to get through the human channels to the crowd. He was lifted up and at +once men began coming a-running broken in heart by the sight. He is +being lifted up, and men of all the race are coming as fast as the slow +news gets to them. + +But back now to John's story. They pick their way over the stones of the +little Kidron into the garden of the olives. There, quite alone in the +deep shadows of the inner trees, Jesus has His great spirit-conflict, +and great victory. The touch with sin so close, so real, now upon Him +within a few hours, the sin of others upon His sinless soul,--this +shakes Him terrifically beyond our understanding, who don't know purity +as He did. But the tremendous strength of yielding brings victory, as +ever. And the battle of the morrow is fought in spirit, and won. + +Now the trailers of hate come seeking with torch and lantern, soldiers +and officers, chief priests and rulers, the ever present rabble, and in +the lead the shameless traitor. They are pushing their quest now, +seeking Jesus in the hiding whence He had gone days before[122] led by +the man who knew His accustomed haunts. + +But there's no need for seeking now. Jesus is full ready. He decides the +action that follows. He is masterful even in His purposeful yielding. +Quietly He walks out from the cover of the trees to meet them. And as +their torches turn full upon His advancing figure again that marvellous +power not only of restraint but decidedly more is felt by them. And the +whole company, traitor, soldiers, rulers, rabble, overpowered in spirit, +fall back and then drop to the ground utterly overawed and cowed by the +lone man they are seeking. + +Does Judas expect this? Will this power they are unable to resist not +open the eyes of these rulers! But there's no stupidity equal to that +which goes with stubbornness. In a moment Jesus reveals His purpose in +this, to shield His disciples. Now the power of restraint is withdrawn +and He yields to their desires. They shall have fullest sway in using +their freedom of action as they will. And Peter's foolish attempts are +quietly overruled. + +They keep up the forms by taking Jesus to Annas the real Jewish ruler of +the nation. But it is simply an opportunity for the coarseness of their +hate to vent itself upon His person. They pretend an examination here in +the night's darkness suited to their deeds. He quietly reminds them of +the frank openness of all His teachings. + +Meanwhile John's friendly act has gotten Peter entrance. The attitude of +the two men is in sharpest contrast. John is avowedly Jesus' friend, +regardless of personal danger. Peter just the reverse. And the hate of +the leaders has soaked into all their surroundings even down to the +housemaids. And John notes how exactly Jesus foreknew all, even to a +thrice-spoken denial before the second crowing of a cock. + +Now comes the great Pilate phase. It was the intense malignity of their +hate that made them bother with Pilate. They could easily have killed +Jesus and Pilate would never have concerned himself about it. But they +couldn't have put Him to such exquisite suffering and such shameful +indignity before the crowds as by the Roman form of death by +crucifixion. + +Clearly there is a hate at work _behind_ theirs. Their hate is +distinctly _inhuman_. Is _all_ hate? There's an unseen personal power in +action here set on spilling out the utmost that malignant hate can upon +the person of Jesus. But these men are cheerful tools. Hate is tying its +hardest knot with ugliest black thread on the end of its opportunity. + +This is Pilate's opportunity and he seems to sense it. And a struggle +begins between conscience and cowardice, between right action with an +ugly fight for it, and yielding to wrong with an easy time of it. +Clearly he feels the purity and the personal power of this unusual +prisoner. The motive of envy and hate under their action is as plain to +his trained eyes. + +Twice the two men, Pilate and Jesus, are alone together. Did ever man +have such an opportunity, personally, and historically? With rare touch +and winsomeness Jesus woos. And Pilate feels it to the marrow under all +his rough speech. His repeated attempts with the leaders make that +clear. But cowardice gripped him hard. It's a way cowardice has. + +The name of Caesar conjures up fears,--loss of position, of wealth, of +reputation, maybe of life itself. He surrenders. Conscience is slain on +the judgment seat. Cowardice laughs and wins. A sharp fling brings a cry +of allegiance to Caesar from their reluctant throats, as their hatred +wins the day. He strikes them back an ugly blow as He surrenders. That +reluctant Caesar cry told out the intensity of their hate. They hated +Caesar much, but they hated Jesus immeasurably more. They gulp down +Caesar to be able to vent their spleen upon Jesus. + +And so they crucified Him. At last they succeed. They have gotten what +they were bent on. The hate burning within, these months and years, +finds its full vent. Its hateful worst is done, and horribly well done. +And they stand about the cross with unconcealed gloating in pose and +face and speech and eyes. Their part of the story is done. + + + +Masterful Dying. + + +But Jesus' part--ah! that was just begun. John lays emphasis on the +mastery of Jesus here. It is marked, and reveals to John's faithful +love-opened eyes the dominating purpose of Jesus in yielding to death. +Strong, thoughtful, self-controlled, anticipating every move, He was +using all the strength of His great strong will in yielding. He was +doing it masterfully, intelligently. + +This is marked throughout. At the arrest He walks frankly out to meet +those seeking Him, and restrains them in that strangely powerful way +till He was quite ready. He makes the personal plea to Pilate for +_Pilate's_ sake, impressing him so greatly, but interposing nothing to +change the purpose of His accusers. When Pilate's final decision is +given John notes that Jesus "went out _bearing the cross for Himself,_" +though provision had been made for this.[123] His influence upon Pilate +is seen in the accuracy of the kingly inscription that hangs over the +cross. In the midst of the excruciating bodily pain He thinks of His +mother, and with marvellous self-control speaks the quiet word to her +and to John that insures her future under his filial care. + +And then John significantly adds, "_Jesus, knowing that all things are +now finished._"[124] With masterly forethought, and self-control and +deliberation He had done the thing He had set Himself to do. Never was +yielding so masterful. Never was a great plan carried out so fully +through the set purpose of one's enemies. His every action bears out the +word He had spoken, "No man taketh My life away from Me, I lay it down +of Myself."[125] + +So now His great work is done, and thoroughly done. His lips speak the +tremendous word, "It is finished." And He bowed His head and _gave up_ +His spirit. It was His own act. The self-restraint was strong upon Him +till all was done that was needed for the great purpose in hand. Then +His head is bowed, His great heart broke under the terrific strain on +His spirit as He allowed His life to go out. + +From that moment no indignity touches His body. The Jews with their +wearisome insistence on empty technicalities would have added further +indignity to crucifixion. But that body is sacredly guarded from their +profane hand by unseen restraint. John with solemn simplicity points to +the unmistakable physical evidence, in the separation of blood and +water, that Jesus had actually died; no swooning, but death. And +reverently he finds the confirmation of Scripture. + +Only tender love touches that body now. Two gentlemen of highest +official and social standing and of large wealth, brothers in their +faith in Jesus, and also in their timidity, now take steps at once to +have the precious body of their dear friend tenderly cared for without +regard to expense. So He is laid away in a new tomb in a garden among +the flowers of the spring time. The last touch is one of tender love. So +His greatest wooing was done, and begun; the great act done, its +tremendous wooing influence only just begun. + +Jesus died deliberately. This is quite clear. It was done of love +aforethought. It was His own act fitted into the circumstances +surrounding Him. This makes His death mean just what He meant it to +mean. Run back through His teachings rather carefully and that meaning +stands clearly out. + +He was the Father's messenger; simply this; but all of this. The ideals +of right so insistently and incessantly held up and pressed were the +Father's ideals. His mere presence told the Father's great love for men. +They two were so knit that when the one suffered the other suffered, +too. + +It was the love for men in His own heart that drew Him down here and +drove Him along even to the Calvary Hill. He died _for_ men, in their +place, on their behalf. This was His one thought. Through this their +bondage to sin and to Satan would be broken and they would be set +free.[126] And they would be drawn, their hearts would be utterly melted +and broken by His love for them.[127] The influence would reach out +until all the race would feel its power and respond; and it would reach +into each one's life who came till the life he lived was of the +abundant, eternal sort. + +The devil was a real personality to Jesus. This whole terrific struggle +ending at the cross was a direct spirit-battle with that great spirit +prince. So Jesus understood it. All the bitter enmity to Himself traces +straight back to that source. That enmity found its worst expression in +Jesus' death. The pitched spirit-battle was there. But that prince was +judged, condemned, utterly defeated and cast out in that battle, and his +hold upon men broken.[128] + +And so this was the greatest wooing of all. It was greatest in its +intensity of meaning _to the Father_ looking eagerly down. It revealed +His unbending, unflinching ideals of right, and the great strength and +tenderness of His love for men. He would even give His Son. It was +greatest in its intensity of meaning _to the Son_. It meant the utmost +of suffering ever endured, the utmost of love underneath ever revealed; +and it would mean the race-wide sweep of His gracious power. + +It was greatest in its intensity of meaning _to Satan_, the hater of God +and man. It told his utter defeat, and loss of power over man. So it +broke our bonds and made us free to yield to the wooing. And it was +greatest in its intensity of meaning _to us men_. For it showed to our +confused eyes the one ideal of right standing out clear and full. It +set us free from the fetters of our bondage, gave us the tremendous +incentive of love to reach up to the ideal of right, and more, immensely +more, gave us _power to reach it_. + +It was the greatest wooing _in the out-reach_ of its influence, for all +men of all the earth would be touched.[129] And it was greatest _in the +in-reach_ to all the life of each one who came under its blessed +influence. The whole ministry taught this. It would mean newness of life +in body, in mind, in social nature, in spirit, and in the eternal +quality of life lived here, and to be lived without any ending. + +And all the world has responded to this greatest wooing as they have +come to know of it. That three-languaged inscription on the cross was a +world appeal and a world prophecy. In Hebrew the religious language of +the world whose literature told of the one true God, in Latin the +language of the masters of the world, in Greek the language of the +culture of the world, that message went out to all the world. This Jesus +is our Kinsman-King, our Brother-Ruler, our Love-Autocrat. He revealed +His love for us in His death for us. + +And men answer to Jesus' great plea. With flooded eyes and broken +hearts, and bending wills, and changed lives, men of all the race bow +gratefully at the feet of Jesus, our Saviour and Lord and coming King. + + + + +VI + +An Appointed Tryst Unexpectedly Kept + + _A Day of Startling Joyous Surprises_ + + + + + "Halts by me that footfall: + Is my gloom, after all, + Shade of His hand outstretched caressingly? + 'Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest, + I am He whom thou seekest! + _Thou drawest love from thee, who drawest Me._'" + + --"_The Hound of Heaven._ + + "After I am raised up I will go before you into Galilee."--_Mark + xiv. 28._ + + + + +VI + +An Appointed Tryst Unexpectedly Kept + +(John xx.) + + + +The Appointment. + + +Jesus had made an appointment. It was with these dear friends who had +responded so lovingly to His wooing. It was a significant appointment, +most significant. He had appointed to meet them three days after His +death. He had made a further appointment to meet them in Galilee. What a +stupendous appointment to make! + +It was a sacred appointment, sacred as the love that made it, sacred to +Jesus as the friendship of these men with whom it was made, sacred as +His word that never was broken. Our Scottish friends use a most +significant word for appointment, the word _tryst_. They used to use it +some for ordinary appointments, but chiefly it is used for friendship +and for love-appointments. The appointment is a tryst. + +Tryst is the same word as _trust_. In the old Gothic language it was one +of the words used for a covenant or treaty. In medieval Latin it was a +pledge given that an agreement would be kept. It is a fine turn of a +word that uses the very spirit of confidence in one's heart in another +as the name for the appointment made with him. The trust in the heart +gives the name to the appointment. It's an appointment with one who +_can_ be trusted to keep his word, and who _is_ trusted. + +So an appointed tryst becomes more than a mere appointment. It is a +pledge of faith. Now this is the real force of the word here. Jesus had +appointed a tryst with these men, and in making it He was plighting His +troth, pledging His word to them. He had asked them to risk all for Him. +In this tryst He is pledging all to them. + +He never forgot that sacred appointment. He had thought much before He +made it. He knew it would involve much to keep it. The power of God was +at stake in the making and the keeping of it. He knew that. He thought +of it. He made the appointment and He kept it. Jesus keeps His +appointments. His word never fails. Not even the gates of death, nor the +power of the evil one, can prevail against it. + +This was a staggering appointment. It took so much for granted. It +reckons God's power is as big as it is. But then that's a way Jesus had, +and has. And it is a way he will come to have who companions much with +Jesus. + +Jesus had spoken of this indirectly but distinctly when first He told +His disciples of His suffering and death, six months before. And each +time afterwards when He told them of His death the words were always +added, "and the third day rise again."[130] I The two things are nearly +always linked. But they hadn't seemed to sense what He meant. The thing +seems quite beyond them. + +He spoke of it again on that never-to-be-forgotten night of the +betrayal, the night of the feet-washing, and that last long talk, and +that wondrous Kidron-prayer. He spoke of it more than once that night. + +It was a very emphatic word He spoke as they were walking along the +darkly shadowed Jerusalem streets out towards the east gate. He said, "a +little while and ye shall behold Me no more; and again a little while +and ye shall see Me."[131] And the disciples pick this up and puzzle +over it. + +And the Master explains rather carefully and at some length. There was a +time of sore trouble coming for Him and for them. And while they were +sorrowing the outer crowd would be making merry. But it would be just as +with the expectant mother, He said. All the while even when the pains +cut she is thinking of the great delight that is to be hers. Her +after-joy clean wipes out of her thought the sharp cutting of the pain. + +So it would be. "_I will see you again_," He said in plainest speech. +And again that same night He said, "after I am raised up, _I will go +before you into Galilee_." Could any appointment be more explicit as to +time and place? + +But they forget. Aye, there's the bother, this thing of forgetting. The +memory is ever the index of the heart and the will and the +understanding. You can tell the one by the other. Some things are never +forgot. A bit embarrassing and odd this thing of forgetting what Jesus +says. + +His _enemies_ remembered, and took special pains to head off any +breaking of their careful plans.[132] And even when the angels remind +the women of the promised appointment, and they with great joy repeat +the reminder to the disciples, it seems like "_idle talk_" and is not +accepted. The thing couldn't be, they think.[133] Finally the evidence +becomes so convincing that they start off for the trysting place, "into +Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them."[134] + + + +How the Appointment Was Kept. + + +Let us look a bit at the wonderful keeping, so unexpected, of this +sacred tryst. It's the third day now since Jesus' death. It is in the +dark dusk of the early morning. A little knot of women make their way +slowly along the road leading out of the city gate. Mary Magdalene is in +the lead, so far ahead of the others as to be alone. They are carrying +packages of perfumed ointments. They are thinking only of a dear dead +body and of clinging fragrant memories. + +They are troubling themselves about how to get the big stone at the tomb +pushed aside. It was too much for their strength. As she drew near the +tomb Mary Magdalene's love-quickened eyes notice something quite +unexpected. The stone is moved aside! She naturally thinks some one has +taken the body secretly away in the night. + +Quickly she turns and runs back towards the city to tell Peter and John. +And as quickly as they hear the startling news they are off on a smart +run towards the tomb. Meanwhile the other women go on into the tomb. +They are further startled to see a glorious looking person who assures +them that Jesus is living, having risen up out of death. All a-quiver +with fear intermingled with the first glimmering light of a great hope +that they hardly dare hope, they flee hastily back to town to tell the +others. + +Now Peter and John, who have been eagerly running, arrive breathless, +with John in the lead. Gazing reverently, intently, in through the +opening John sees, not a body, but on the spot where the body had been +laid, the linen wrappings lying, held up in the shape of a body by +Nicodemus' abundant and heavy ointments just as when they held the body +of Jesus. But clearly there is nothing in them now. + +Now Peter comes up, and, just like him, goes straight in, and is at once +struck by the arrangement of these cloths, just as John had been. Then +they comment on the fact that the head cloths are lying where they +naturally would be, a little apart from the others, the distance of the +head from the body. + +The evidence convinces them that Jesus' spirit had indeed returned to +His body, and that He had risen up _through the cloths_, and gone. And +they start back to town in a great maze of wonder and delight. + +And now Mary Magdalene, knowing nothing of all this, comes slowly back +absorbed with her thoughts that the body has been secretly removed. She +stands at the open tomb weeping. Then for the first time she stoops down +and looks in. She is startled to see two angels left there to explain +matters. + +They gently say "Why weepest thou?" Still sobbing, she says, "They have +taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him." And +turning aside as she speaks she sees some One standing near her. Her +tear-misted eyes think Him the attendant in charge of the garden. Again +the question by this man, "Why weepest thou?" How strangely they talk, +these angels and this gardener! She makes a plea for the body. + +Then the one word, her name, spoken in that voice she knew so +well--"_Mary_." Ah! there's no question about _that voice_. She needs no +explanation nor evidence more than this, as she cries out, "Oh, my +beloved Master." Then He acts so like Himself; He gives her an errand to +do for Him. And off she goes. She has had the wondrous privilege of the +first sight of Him, and the first errand for Him. The tryst has been +kept with Mary Magdalene. + +And now the other women who had gone running down the road after +hearing the angels' startling message are amazed to meet Jesus standing +in the roadway in front of them. And the same quiet rich voice so gently +and simply gives them the usual "good-morning" salutation. At once they +are on their knees at His feet. And He softly says, "Don't be afraid. Go +tell My brethren to meet Me at the old place appointed, up by the blue +waters of Galilee." And again the tryst is kept. + +But before all this, the soldiers on guard, terror-stricken by the +earthquake that had taken place, and dazed at the sight of the "angel of +the Lord" had fled at top speed to the chief priests with their +startling story. Here was a wholly unexpected bothersome finish to the +thing. But quick consultation follows. And then free use of money makes +the soldiers willing to tell what they know to be a lie. And so the two +utterly different stories, the truth and the lie, get into circulation +at once. The soldiers and the chief priests' circle have learned that +the appointment was kept. + +Meanwhile Peter has gone down the road back to town in a maze of +conflicting emotions. John, lighter of foot, had hurried ahead, very +likely to tell the great news to Jesus' mother, now his own. Peter plods +slowly along, thinking hard. It was still early morning, the air so +still and fragrant with the dew. Maybe down by some big trees he is +walking, absorbed, when all at once, _some One is by his side_. It's the +Master. The appointment has been kept with Peter. But we must leave +them alone together. Peter has some things to straighten out. That's a +sacred interview meant only for him. + +That afternoon two disciples walking out to a little village a few miles +away are joined by a Stranger whose talk makes their hearts burn like +the Master's used to. And as they gather about the evening meal with +Him, and He gives thanks and breaks the loaf, all at once their eyes +_see_. It is _Jesus Himself_ who has been with them all the time. Again +the appointment is kept. + +At once they hasten back to town, and are just telling the news in +joyously broken speech to the disciples gathered in an upper room with +locked doors when again, all at once, Jesus appears in their midst, and +eats some bread and fish, and tells them to know by the feel that it is +really Himself with them. He has kept His sacred appointment with the +Twelve. Then a week later He comes in like manner among them again for +the sake of one man, Thomas. So He keeps the appointment with Thomas, +also. + + + +Our Guarantee of His Promises. + + +Two things stand out sharply. The resurrection was not expected. It was +the most tremendous surprise. The news was received at first by those +most interested with utter stubborn unbelief. Then the evidence was so +clear and repeated, and incontestable that these same men staked their +lives on it. They suffered to the extreme for their witness that Jesus +had indeed risen. + +Jesus rose from the dead. His body was re-inhabited by His spirit. The +spirit didn't die. Spirits neither sleep nor die. The body died. Then +life came into it again. It was a real body that could eat and be +touched. It was recognized as the same one they had known. But it was +changed. The old limitations were gone. New powers had come. + +Jesus keeps His appointments. His pledged word never fails. Not a word +He has spoken can ever be broken. Some day He is coming back. It is an +appointment.[135] Then we, too, who have slipped the tether of life and +left our bodies temporarily in the dust, shall rise up again to meet +Him. It is a sacred appointment He has made with us. + +And some of us who live in that day shall be changed instead of dying, +and shall be caught up to meet Him and our own loved ones in the air. +That's His true tryst with us up in the blue, some day. And He will keep +it. + +And meanwhile everything He has promised us in the Book is sure, as +being His plighted word. His resurrection is our bond, our guarantee. As +surely as He rose on that third morning He will keep His word regarding +every matter to you and me. + +His appointments never fail, whether of guidance, of bodily health and +strength, of supplies for every sort of need, of peace, of power, of +victory. The power that raised Jesus up from out the dead is pledged to +us for every promise of this Book for to-day's life. He will do an act +of creation before He will let His Word fail. He will leave no power +unused to keep the appointment of His Word with us. + +Let us trust His Word to us fully. And let us _live_ our trust. + + + + +VII + +Another Tryst + + _A Story of Fishing, of Guests at Breakfast, and of a Walk and Talk + by the Edge of Blue Galilee_ + + + + + "I come unto you."--_John xiv. 18._ + + "Lo, I am with you all the days."--_Matthew xxviii. 20_. + + + + +VII + +Another Tryst + +(John xxi.) + + + +Jesus Unrecognised. + + +John's story is done. And it is well done. With the skill of a tried +jurist he has drawn up a clear full line of evidence and presented it in +a vigorous straightforward way. And he plainly states his case. His +whole purpose is that those who read his little book shall come into +warm personal touch of life with the Lord Jesus. That ties the knot on +tight at the end of chapter twenty. John's case has gone to the jury of +his readers. + +But now John reaches for his pen again. The guiding Spirit has put +another bit into his heart to write down. This time it is a special bit, +not for all to whom the book is sent, but for a selected class of his +readers, namely, for those of them who have given John a favourable +verdict on the evidence presented. It grows out of chapter xx. 31 as +rose out of bud, and fruit out of blossom. It is for those who "believe +that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God," and so "have life in His +Name." + +And a very tender precious bit it is, more wondrous in its sheer +simplicity than any of us seem to suspect. It is simply this: _this +Jesus is with us all the time_. This same Jesus who was so swayed by the +need of the crowd, who burned His life out day by day warmly responding +to their sore need--_He is here._ + +This Jesus who fed the hungry, healed the sick of every sort, and freed +men from devilish power, who convicted men so tremendously of their +wrong, restrained their evil power to hurt, wooed the hearts of all so +irresistibly, and led them into changed lives; this Jesus who died and +then did the stupendously mighty thing of rising up out of death,--_this +Jesus is with us now_ by your side and mine. + +And He is just the same Jesus in His warm love and resistless power. The +_words_ are rather familiar. The _fact_--no one of us seems to have +gotten hold of it yet. This is the thing that makes John eagerly reach +for his pen again before his little book-messenger goes out on its +errand. + +The thing isn't new in _information_, but in actual living _experience_ +it seems to be so new as to be an unknown thing to some of us. The +Master had spoken of this that betrayal-night around the supper board. +It was really a continuation of that trysting appointment He had made +with them that evening, a wonderful continuation. + +Clearly they didn't understand Him that night. But during those +after-Pentecost days they were given a continuous graphic unforgetable +illustration of its meaning. We to-day seem able to explain the part +they didn't understand, the teaching that betrayal-night. We don't seem +to get hold of the part they did understand and experience, the real +presence of the risen Jesus in the midst actively at work. + +That night Jesus said: "I will make request of the Father, and He will +send you another unfailing powerful Friend to be always at your side." +Then He added: "He abides _with_ you now (in My presence) and shall be +_in_ you (after I send Him)." Then He said, "_I_ come unto you. Yet a +little while and the world _seeth_ Me no more but ye _see_ Me." + +And again, "He that hath My commandments and keepeth them he it is that +(in that sheweth that he) loveth Me and ... I will _manifest_ or _shew_ +Myself unto him." Here is the simple teaching: He would send the Holy +Spirit; in the Holy Spirit's coming Jesus Himself, the new risen exalted +empowered enthroned Jesus, He came; _and_ He would let them see Himself +with them. + +Now this added chapter of John's is _the illustration in advance_ to +these men of what these words mean. _The great standing illustration_ is +that Book of Acts which, will you notice, doesn't end. It only breaks +off, abruptly, without even a punctuation point. It wasn't meant to end. +We are supposed to be living in it yet. But these men haven't come to +the experience of the Pentecostal Acts yet. This is an illustration in +advance to them. And it remains an illustration to us of what we seem a +bit slow in taking in. + +But let us get at the simple bit of story itself. There's a little +group of the inner circle, seven including the leaders. These men +haven't found their feet yet. The stupendous events of those days, +coming in such startling succession, have left them dazed. The +crucifixion left them stupidly dazed; the resurrection left them joyous, +but still dazed. They don't know just where they are, nor what to do. + +So Peter proposes fishing; an ideal proposition, when you want to get +off and think things through and out. Any fisherman knows that. And the +others readily join in. They see the good sense of it. But the fish +don't catch. And the morning finds them tired in body and more tired in +the spiritless uncertainty that hangs over them like a clinging damp +fog. + +Yonder is some One standing on the beach. But that's nothing unusual. +They barely notice Him. And now this Stranger calls out to them a cheery +common question, "Caught anything?" And now He gives a--no, it can +hardly be called a _command_, so quietly is it said. Yet they are subtly +conscious of a something in the word that makes them obey, though it's +the last sort of thing to do. + +And now at once the net-ropes pull _so hard;_ astonishing this! Then +John's keen spirit detects _Who_ it is. Is he thinking of the other big +unexpected haul in those same waters![136] And Peter's over the side of +the boat shoreward. Fishing has lost all attraction for him. + +And when they all got ashore with their haul, tired, wet, chilled to +the marrow, hungry, what's this? A blazing fire of coals burning +cheerfully on the sands. And some fish dexterously poised, doing to a +brown turn, and some bread. And the Stranger, no, _Jesus_, He's no +longer a stranger, Jesus says quietly, "Boys, better bring the haul up +on the beach." + +And the old fishing habit still strong on them counts the fish. It's +such an unusual haul, they must know how many. John must be thinking +again about that earlier haul. The net couldn't stand the strain then. +But now it's different. Ah! _every_thing's blessedly different now. "The +net was not rent." + +Then the gracious call to breakfast by their Host. Was ever fish done to +such a fine turn? Did ever any fish have such an exquisite flavour? or +taste so good? Did ever men eat so gladly and yet quietly with a +distinct touch of awe in their spirits? For they _know_ it is the +Master, though no word of that has been spoken. Words were needless. + +Now they're walking along the beach, Jesus and Peter in the lead but the +others quite near. And there's the bit of talk between the two. Very +gently Jesus says, "Do you love Me, Peter?" And Peter feels he hardly +dare use the sacred word for "love" that the Master has used. He had +made such an awful break at just that point. And with breaking voice he +says, "Yea, Lord, Thou knowest I have the highest regard for Thee." + +And again the question, and the answer, with Peter still humbly +clinging to his more modest word. And now Jesus says, "Do you really +love Me even as you yourself say?" And Peter with his heart in his face +says passionately, "Lord, Thou knowest better than I can tell Thee." + +And because he loves, Peter is given the full privilege of shepherding +the whole flock, from feeding little lambkins on to feeding all, and +guiding, through the hard places, even the wayward ones. And more yet +and higher, because Peter loves, he will be privileged to suffer, even +as his Master had suffered. The fellowship would extend even to that. + +And Peter's eye falls on John. And apparently he is thinking of the +contrast between John's faithfulness and his own break that +betrayal-night. If poor faulty Peter may be so privileged how John would +be rewarded. But Jesus quietly turns Peter, and all Peter's numerous +kinsfolk of this sort, away from human comparisons. And instead He seeks +to turn their hearts to this: He is coming back in person some day for +an advance step in the kingdom program. And there they are, walking and +talking, along the beach by the blue Galilean waters. + + + +The Same Jesus Here Now. + + +An unrecognized Stranger who turns out to be Jesus; an unusual haul of +fish gotten in a very unusual way; a warm fire and tasty breakfast for +cold hungry men; a tender talk about love and service and sacrifice, +and about Jesus' return;--all this is a moving-picture illustration of +the meaning of a word, one word. + +It is a word Jesus used in that last long quiet talk. It's the key-word +to this added chapter, occurring three times. In the old version it is +the word "_shew_"; in the revision "manifest." "After these things Jesus +_manifested_ Himself again ... and He _manifested_ Himself on this +wise." "This is now the third time that Jesus was _manifested_ to the +disciples after that He was risen from the dead."[137] + +The word used underneath literally means "to make manifest or _visible_ +or know, what has been hidden or unknown."[138] Then each time it is +used it gets its local colouring from its connection. The simple +tremendous meaning here clearly is this: Jesus let Himself _be seen_ and +known. _He did not come_. He was there. + +But their eyes couldn't see Him. In effect He was hidden, not seeable. +Now the change that comes is this: _He is seen_. And He is seen in His +true native character; so certain results follow. He had said, "I will +_manifest_ Myself."[139] And this was now the third time that He did it, +to the disciples, after that He was risen. + +This is _the advance illustration of the Book of Acts_. This is the +tremendous thing He is burning into their hearts through eyes and +ears:--_He is always present_. He, whose power they had felt so +stupendously, and whose warm sympathy so tenderly, _He is always with +them_. The coming of the Holy Spirit meant just this. The Spirit would +be as Jesus' other self, as Jesus Himself. The one thing the Spirit +would do would be to manifest, to _shew openly_, the power of Jesus. + +Then four pictures pass before their eyes to illustrate the meaning, a +fishing picture and a breakfast picture _in action_; then _in words_, a +love-service-suffering picture, and a picture of Jesus returning in +person seen by all to take an advance-step. + +The fishing picture clearly meant this: great numbers of people, +surprisingly great numbers, coming, drawn not by any human skill, but by +the supernatural power of Jesus manifesting Himself in that way. The +breakfast picture meant this: that this wondrous Jesus would take tender +personal care of those in this blessed gathering ministry, even to their +bodily needs and strength. + +And the love-service-suffering word-picture said so plainly this: true +service grows out of love. The chief thing is the loyal tender +attachment to the person of Jesus. Then out of this will naturally come +service, and willingness to suffer. The touchstone won't be service but +personal love. The service will simply be an expression of the love. + +And the Jesus-return word-picture fills their vision with this same +Jesus coming in open glory before all eyes to carry out the kingdom +plan. As these men learned to live always in the presence of a Jesus +whom their outer eyes saw not, these pictures would become living +pictures seen in open daily life. + +So this is a further bit of the tryst appointment. This is the fuller +tryst, the greater, the yet more wondrous tryst. Not only would He rise +up out of death, and appear to them in person seen by the outer eyes, +but He would be with them continually manifesting Himself in rarest +power of action, in tenderest personal care, in talking and walking with +them. + +They would see the power plainly at work; then they would say with a +soft hush, "_He_ is here." They would find new bodily strength, new +guidance in perplexity, new peace in the midst of confusion, and they +would say to each other in awed tones, "_He is here: it's the Master's +touch_." + +And so it would come to be a habit to _anticipate_ His presence. They +would figure Him in, and figure Him in big, as big as He is, in all +sorts of circumstances and planning and meeting of difficulties. + +It is most striking that John closes his Gospel so differently from the +others. They close with the Master rising up and disappearing on a cloud +into the upper blue. John closes with Jesus walking along the beach, +talking with the little group of trusted ones. Jesus did ascend up into +the blue whence He shall some day descend. But the Holy Spirit sends +John back to his pen to give us this as the last picture, impressed on +the sensitive plate of the eyes of our heart. _This_: Jesus present with +us all the while walking along the shore of our common round of life, +clothed with matchless power, and devoting Himself to us as we to Him. + +Along about the middle of the eighteenth century there came to England a +young French-Swiss, named De la Fléchčre, hungry hearted for the truth. +He was so helped by John Wesley that he cast in his lot with the new +Methodist movement and John Williams Fletcher became one of Wesley's +most faithful co-labourers. Late in life he married a woman of unusual +mental and spiritual attainment. + +I ran across a simple story over there of this Mrs. John Fletcher which +interested and helped me much. This saintly gifted woman told of a dream +which came to her with such vividness as to seem to her mature mind more +than a common passing vagary of sleep. In her dream she was engaged in +an intense struggle with an evil spirit. She was having a most difficult +fight. + +She noticed some one standing a little bit to one side watching the +fight but taking no active part in it. The fighting became so intense +and her strength so sorely strained that she was on the point of giving +up. Then this one came over near and touched her gently and said, "Be +strong." Instantly a wondrous strength came to her and she held on. + +Again the evil one attacked her viciously. She wondered why this helping +friend did not come to her assistance in the fight. Then she was moved +to say to her enemy, "Depart, _in Jesus' Name_." And instantly he fled. +And she was free and victorious. That was her dream. As she awoke there +came to her the most real sense of the presence of her Lord. + +This is only one simple illustration from life. I have run across many +of the same, wholly different each from the other, but each emphasizing +the one simple tremendous fact of _the constant presence with us of this +same mighty Jesus_. + +It is of keenest help to mark that humanly the _initiative of action_ is +in _our_ hands. The fight is _ours_. We decide our stand. We choose, and +we bear the brunt or result of our choice. We step out as the need +comes. Prayer and a spirit of humblest dependence on Another guides our +decision and action. But _we_ take the action. The initiative is ours. + +And _always alongside is One standing close up_, putting all His +limitless power _at our disposal_, in our action. All He did in living +and dying and rising up out of death was done _on our behalf_. And now +all the tremendous result of His victory is at our command. All the +power native in Him is for our use. + +This is the other tryst our Lover-Lord makes with us. "_Lo! I_ am _with +you_ all the days, sunny days and shadowy, bright days and dark, all the +days clear to the end." This is the sacred tryst He has made with us. + +And He _keeps_ the tryst. We may count on Him, And as we do we shall +cast nets into hopeless waters and get a great haul. We shall find His +presence anticipating all our personal needs. We shall rejoice to serve +and--if so it prove to be--to suffer for the One we love with tenderest +devotion. + +And we shall look eagerly forward to seeing Him who is always in touch +with us, here and now, to seeing Him with these outer eyes of ours, +_coming in glory_ with His resistless power, _to make some blessed +changes_. + + + + +Footnotes + + + +[1] John i. 35-42. + +[2] i. 1-18. + +[3] i. 19-xii. 50. + +[4] Chapters xiii.-xvii. + +[5] Chapters xviii.-xix. + +[6] Chapters xx.-xxi. + +[7] Colossians i. 15-17. + +[8] Philippians ii. 6-8. + +[9] Ephesians i.19-23. + +[10] Revelation i. 13-18. + +[11] i. 1-18. + +[12] i. 19-xii. 50. + +[13] Chapters xiii.-xvii. + +[14] Chapters xviii.-xix. + +[15] Chapter xx. + +[16] Chapter xxi. + +[17] There are nineteen of these incidents: + + 1. The official deputation, i. 19-51. + 2. Marriage in Cana, ii. 1-11. + 3. Cleansing the Temple, ii. 13-22. + 4. Nicodemus, iii. 1-21. + 5. Dispute about purifying, iii. 22-36. + 6. Samaritan woman, iv. 1-42. + 7. Nobleman's son, iv. 46-54. + 8. Thirty-eight years infirmity, v. + 9. Feeding five thousand, vi. 1-15. +10. Walking on water and discussion, vi. 16-71. +11. At Feast of Tabernacles, vii. +12. Accused woman, viii. 1--11. +13. First attempt to stone, viii. 12-59. +14. Man born blind, ix. 1-x. 21. +15. Second stoning, x. 22-42. +16. Lazarus, xi. +17. Bethany Feast, xii. 1-11. +18. Triumphal Entry, xii. 12-19. +19. The Greeks, xii. 20-50. + + +[18] iii. 32. + +[19] iii. 11. + +[20] i. 19-51. + +[21] ii.1-11. + +[22] ii. 12. + +[23] ii. 13-22. + +[24] vii. 50, 51; xix. 39. + +[25] ii. 23-iii. 21. + +[26] iii. 11, 19, 32. + +[27] iii. 22-36. + +[28] iv 1-42. + +[29] iv. 43-45. + +[30] iv. 46-54. + +[31] v. 1-47. + +[32] vi. 1-14. + +[33] vi. 15-71. + +[34] vii. 1-52. + +[35] viii. 1-11. + +[36] viii 12-59. + +[37] ix. l-x. 21. + +[38] x. 22-39. + +[39] x. 40-42. + +[40] xi. 1-53. + +[41] xi. 54-57. + +[42] xii. 1-8. + +[43] xii. 9-11. + +[44] xii. 12-19. + +[45] xii. 20-36. + +[46] xii. 37-50. + +[47] ii. 23. + +[48] iv. 45. + +[49] vi. 1-2, 14, 15, 34. + +[50] vii. 31, 40, 41. + +[51] viii. 30. + +[52] x. 20, 21. + +[53] x. 40-42. + +[54] xi. 45; xii. 9-12. + +[55] xii 17-18. + +[56] xii. 12-14. + +[57] xii. 42. + +[58] ii. 23-25 + +[59] vi. 60-66. + +[60] xii. 42-43. + +[61] i. 35-51; ii. 1-11; iii. 13-28. + +[62] vi. 66-69. + +[63] xi. 16. + +[64] ii. 22; xii. 16. + +[65] iii. 1-21. + +[66] vii. 50-51 with xii. 42, 43. + +[67] xix. 39. + +[68] iv. 5-42. + +[69] Genesis XV. 6 with xx. 11. + +[70] vii. 35. + +[71] xii. 24-36. + +[72] Note the official deputation incident (chapter i.), and the +Nicodemus incident (chapter iii.). + +[73] i. 19-34. + +[74] iii. 11, 32. + +[75] ii. 13-20. + +[76] iii. 22-iv. 3. + +[77] iv. 44. + +[78] v. 16-18. + +[79] vi. 30-36, 41-42, 52, 60-66. + +[80] vii. throughout. + +[81] viii. 1-11. + +[82] viii. 12-59. + +[83] ix. 1-x. 21. + +[84] x. 22-39. + +[85] xi. 47-57. + +[86] "Jesus had _not yet_ come," intimating that they were expecting Him +in accordance with an understanding between Him and them. vi. 17. + +[87] Kings vi. 1-7. + +[88] Kings xvii. 17-24. + +[89] Kings xiii. 20-21. + +[90] Kings iv. 32-37. + +[91] Luke viii. 40-42, 49-56. + +[92] Luke vii. 11-17. + +[93] iii. 1-21. + +[94] iv. 7-42. + +[95] viii. 1-11. + +[96] ii. 13-21. + +[97] vii. throughout. + +[98] Luke iv. 30; John viii. 59; x. 39; xii. 36. + +[99] Mark x. 32; Luke ix. 53. + +[100] viii. 12-59. + +[101] x. 22-39. + +[102] xii. 12-19, 36. + +[103] xiii. 1-3. + +[104] ii. 4; vii. 6, 8, 30; viii. 20. + +[105] xii 23, 27; xiii. 1, 31-32; xvii. 1. + +[106] xiii. 4-11. + +[107] xiii. 12-20. + +[108] Philippians ii. 6-11. + +[109] xiii. 18. + +[110] xiii. 21-30. + +[111] The word "glory" with its companion "glorify," is frequent in +John. We shall understand better if we remember that originally the word +he uses means the opinion that one has of another, especially a good +opinion. But as the word is used commonly here the underlying thought +is, not what one thinks of another, nor yet something that one may give +to another, but _the actual character in the one so thought of._ Glory +is the character of goodness. So _to see one's glory_ is to see his real +inner character, and to see that character openly recognized and +acknowledged. So to _glorify_ means to recognize and acknowledge openly +the true character of one. Twice in John the word is used in the cheaper +meaning of outer honour among men. vii. 18; viii. 50. + +[112] xiii. 31-33. + +[113] xiii. 34-38. + +[114] xiv. 1-14. + +[115] xi. 33; xii. 27; xiii. 21. + +[116] xiv. 15-31. + +[117] xv. 1-17. + +[118] 18-xvi. 18. + +[119] xvi. 19-33. + +[120] xvii. throughout. + +[121] See footnote on "glory." + +[122] xii. 36. + +[123] Matthew xxvii. 32 and parallels. + +[124] xix. 28. + +[125] x. 17-18. + +[126] viii. 31-32, 34-36. + +[127] xii. 32. + +[128] Some references for this whole paragraph,--viii. 44; xii. 31; +xiii. 2, 27; xiv. 30; xvi. 11. + +[129] x. 16; xii. 32; xvii. 20. + +[130] Matthew xvi. 21; xvii. 9, 23; xx. 19; Mark viii. 31; ix. 31; x. +34; Luke ix. 22; xviii. 33. + +[131] xvi. 16. + +[132] Matthew xxvii. 63. + +[133] Mark xvi. 6-7; Luke xxiv. 6-11. + +[134] Matthew xxviii. 16. + +[135] John xiv. 3, and others. + +[136] Luke v. 1-11. + +[137] xxi. 1, 14. + +[138] So Thayer. + +[139] xiv. 21, 1. c. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Quiet Talks on John's Gospel, by S. 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Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. 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/15185-8.zip b/15185-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..332349a --- /dev/null +++ b/15185-8.zip diff --git a/15185.txt b/15185.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1de47a2 --- /dev/null +++ b/15185.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7142 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Quiet Talks on John's Gospel, by S. D. Gordon + +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: Quiet Talks on John's Gospel + +Author: S. D. Gordon + +Release Date: February 26, 2005 [EBook #15185] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUIET TALKS ON JOHN'S GOSPEL *** + + + + +Produced by Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + +Quiet Talks on _John's Gospel_ + +By + +S. D. Gordon + + + + +1915 + + + + +Preface + + + +_Everything depends on getting Jesus placed._ That lies at the root of +all--living, serving, preaching, teaching. John had Jesus placed. He had +Him up in His own place. This settles everything else. Then one gets +himself placed, too, up on a level where the air is clear and bracing, +the sun warm, and the outlook both steadying and stimulating. Get the +centre fixed and things quickly adjust themselves about it to your eyes. + +It will be seen very quickly that this little book makes no pretension +to being a commentary on, or an exposition of, John's Gospel. That is +left to the scholarly folk who eat their meals in the sacred classical +languages of the past. It is simply a homely attempt to let out a little +of what has been sifting in these years past of this wondrous miniature +Bible from John's pen. + +The proportions of this homely little messenger of paper and type may +seem a little odd at first. The longest chapter is devoted to only the +opening eighteen verses of John, the prologue. While the whole of the +first twelve chapters of John, excepting that prologue, is brought into +one smaller chapter. It wasn't planned so, though I felt it coming as +the wondrous mood of this book came down over me. I think it mast be +the effect of the atmosphere of John's book. + +Sometimes John packs so much in so little space, and again he goes so +particularly into the details of some one incident. The prologue is a +miniature Bible. The whole Bible story is there in its cream. And on the +other hand John spends five chapters (xiii.-xvii.), almost a fifth of +the whole, on a single evening. He devotes seven chapters (xiii.-xix.), +almost a third of all, on the events of twenty-four hours. John is +controlled not by mere proportion of space or quantity, but by the finer +proportions of thought and quality. + +It has been difficult to hold these homely talks down to the limit of +space they take here. So many veins of gold in this mine, showing +clearly large nuggets of pure ore, lie just at hand untouched in this +little mining venture. But it seemed clearly best to get the one clear +grasp of the whole. That helps so much. But there'll be strong +temptation to get one's pick and spade and go at this gold mine again. + +But now these things are written that we common folk may understand a +bit better, and in a warm way, that Jesus was God on a wooing errand to +the earth; and that we may join the blest company of the won ones, and +become co-wooers with God of the others. + +S. D. G. + + + + +Contents + + + +I. John's Story + +II. The Wooing Lover + + Who it was that came. + +III. The Lover Wooing + + A group of pictures illustrating how the wooing was done and how + the Lover was received. + +IV. Closer Wooing + + An evening with opening hearts: the story of a supper and a walk in + the moonlight and the shadows. + +V. The Greatest Wooing + + A night and a day with hardening hearts: the story of tender + passion and of a terrible tragedy. + +VI. An Appointed Tryst Unexpectedly Kept + + A day of startling joyous surprises. + +VII. Another Tryst + + A story of fishing, of guests at breakfast, and of a walk and talk + by the edge of blue Galilee. + + + + +I + +John's Story + + + + + "I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; + I fled Him, down the arches of the years; + I fled Him down the labyrinthine ways + Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears + I hid from Him, and under running laughter. + Up vistaed hopes, I sped; + And shot, precipitated, + Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears, + From those strong Feet that followed, followed after." + + --_Francis Thompson, in "The Hound of Heaven_." + +"These are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son +of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name."--_John xx. +31_. + + + + +I + +John's Story + + + +The Heart-strings of God. + + +There's a tense tugging at the heart of God. The heart-strings of God +are tight, as tight as tight can be. For there's a tender heart that's +easily tugged at one end, and an insistent tugging at the other. The +tugging never ceases. The strings never slack. They give no signs of +easing or getting loose. + +It's the tug of man's sore need at the down-end, the man-end, of the +strings. And it's the sore tug of grief over the way things are going on +down here with men, at the other end, the up-end, the heart-end, of the +strings. It's the tense pull-up of a love that grows stronger with the +growth of man's misunderstanding. + +But the heart-strings never snap. The heart itself breaks under the +tension of love and grief, grieved and grieving love. But the strings +only strengthen and tighten under the strain of use. + +Those heart-strings are a bit of the heart they're tied to, an inner +bit, aye the innermost bit, the inner heart of the heart. They are the +bit pulled, and pulled more, and pulled harder, till the strings grew. +Man was born in the warm heart of God. Was there ever such a womb! Was +there ever such another borning, homing place! + +It was man's going away that stretched the heart out till the strings +grew. The tragedy of sin revealed the toughness and tenderness of love. +For that heart never let go of the man whom it borned. Man tried to pull +away, poor thing. In his foolish misunderstanding and heady wilfulness +he tried to cut loose. If he had known God better he would never have +tried that. He'd never have _started_ away; and he'd never have tried to +_get_ away. + +For love never faileth. A heart--the real thing of a heart, that is, +God's heart--never lets go. It breaks; but let go? not once: never yet. +The breaking only loosens the red that glues fast with a tighter hold +than ever. The fibre of the heart--God's heart--is made of too strong +stuff to loosen or wear out or snap. Love never faileth. It can't; +because it's love. + +Now all this explains Jesus. It was man's pull on these heart-strings +that brought Him down. The pull was so strong and steady. It grew tenser +and more insistent. And straight down He came by the shortest way, the +way of those same heart-strings. For the heart-strings of God are the +shortest distance between two given points, the point of God's giving, +going love, and the point of man's sore need, given a sharper-pointed +end by its very soreness. + +It is a sort of blind pull, this pull of man on the heart of God; a +confused, unconscious, half-conscious, dust-blinded, slippery-road sort +of pulling, but one whose tight grip never slacks. Man needs God, but +does not know it. He knows he needs _some_thing. He feels that keenly. +But he does not know that it's God whom he needs, with a very few rare +exceptions. It doesn't seem to have entered his head that he'll never +get out of his tight corner till God gets him out. + +Down the street of life he goes, eyes blinded by the thick dust, ears +deafened by the cries of the crowd, by the noise of the street without, +and the noise of passions and fevered ambitions within, heart a-wearied +by the confusion of it all, groping, stumbling, jostled and jostling, +hitting this way and that, with the fever high in his blood, and his +feet aching and bleeding; sometimes the polish of culture on the +surface; _some_times rags and dirt; but underneath the same thing. + +Yet under all there's a vague but very real feeling of that unceasing +pull upward upon His heart-strings. But though blind and vague and +confused that tugging is never the less tense, but ever more, and then +yet more. + +Jesus was God answering the tug of man's need on His heart-strings. And +so naturally there was an answering feel in man's heart. Man felt the +answer a-coming. There was a great stir in the spirit-currents of earth +when Jesus came. A thrill of expectancy ran through the world, Roman, +Greek, Barbarian, far and wide, as Jesus drew near. The book-makers of +that time all speak of it. It was the vibration of those same +heart-strings connecting man and God. + +The move at God's end was felt at man's. The coming down along the +highway of the strings thrilled and stirred and awed the hearts into +which those strings led, and where they were so tightly knotted. The +earth-currents spread the news. Man heard; he felt; he knew: vaguely, +blindly, wearily, yet very really he heard and felt and recognized that +help, a Friend, some One, was nearing. + +And then when Jesus walked among men how He did pull upon their hearts! +So quietly He went about. So sympathetically He looked and listened. So +warm was the human touch of His hand. So strong was the lift of His arm +to ease their load. So potent was the spell of His unfailing power to +give relief. How He did pull! And how men did answer to that pull! +Unresistingly, eagerly, as weary child in mother's arms at close of day, +they came crowding to Him. + + + +The Fourfold Message. + + +It is fascinating to find one book in this old Book of God given up +wholly to telling of this, John's Gospel. Of course the whole of the +Book is really given up to it, when one gets the whole simple view of it +at one glance. But so many of us don't get that whole simple glance. + +So to make it easier for us simple common folk, and to make sure of our +getting it, there is one little book, hardly big enough to call a book, +just a few pages devoted wholly to letting us see this one thing. You +can see the whole of the sun in a single drop of water. You can see the +whole of the Book of God in this one little book that John wrote. + +John's Gospel is like the small tracing of the artist's pen on the +lower corner of an etching, the remarque, put there as a signature, the +artist's personal mark that the picture is genuine, the real thing. The +whole consummate skill of the artist is revealed at a glance in the +simple outline-tracing on the margin. The whole of the God-story in the +larger picture of the whole Book is given in few simple clear lines in +this exquisite little thing commonly called John's Gospel. + +It is striking to make the discovery that John's little book has _a +distinctive message as a book_. It is full of messages, of course. But I +mean that there is a distinct story told by the book as a whole, by the +very way it is put together. It is told by the very sort of language +used, the words chosen as the leading words of the book. It is told by +the picture that clearly fills John's eye as he writes, and by the very +spirit that floods the pages as a soft light, and that breaks out of +them as the subtle fragrance of locust blossoms in the spring. + +The fragrance of flowers cannot be analyzed: it must be smelled and +felt. That's the only way you'll ever know it. The fine scholarly +analyses of John are helpful. But there's the subtler something that +cannot be diagramed or analyzed or synthesized. It eludes the +razor-edged knife, and the keenly critical survey. It is recognized only +by one's spirit, and then only when the spirit is warm, and in tune with +John's. + +Of course each of the Gospel stories has a message of its own, quite +apart from the group of facts common to them all. And these four +messages together give us the fuller distinctive message of these four +little books. And a very winsome message it is, too, that takes hold of +one's heart, and takes a warm strong hold at that. + +_Matthew_ tells us that Jesus is a _King_. For a great purpose He chose +to live as a peasant, as one of the common folks. But He was of the +blood royal. He has the long unbroken kingly lineage. He showed kingly +power in His actions, kingly wisdom in His teachings, and the fine +kingly spirit in His gracious kindliness of touch. He was gladly +accepted and served as King by those who understood Him best. He was +acknowledged as King by the Roman Governor; and He died as a King, and +as a King was laid in a newly hewn tomb. + +_Mark_ adds a fine touch to this picture, a warm touch with colour in +it,--this King of ours is _a serving King_. This comes not only with a +warm feel, but it comes as a distinct surprise. Men's kings are _served_ +kings. There have been kings, and are, who rendered their people a fine +high service, and do. But the overpowering impression given the common +crowd watching on the street is that kings are superior beings, to be +waited upon, humbly bowed to, and implicitly obeyed. They are to be +served. + +Bat Mark's picture shows us a King whose passion is to serve. The +service which He draws out of His followers is drawn out by His warm +serving spirit towards us. The words on the royal coat-of-arms are, "Not +to be ministered unto, but to minister." And in the first meaning of the +words He Himself used that means "not to be _served_ but to _serve_." In +Mark the air is tense with rapid action. The quick executive movement of +a capable servant is felt in the terse words short sentences and swift +action of the story. + +There's yet warmer colouring in _Luke's_ picture. This serving King is +_nearest of kin to us!_ He is not only of the blood royal, but of the +blood human. He is bone of our bone, blood of our blood, and life of our +common life. He came to us through a rare union of God's power with +human consent and human function, never known before nor repeated since. +This is the bit that Luke adds to the composite message of these four +little God-story books. + +Here Jesus has a tenderness of human sympathy with us men, for He and we +are brothers. There's an outlook as broad as the race. No national +boundaries limit its reach. No sectional prejudices warp or shut Him off +from sympathetic touch with any. He shares our common life. He knows our +human temptations, and knows them with a reality that is painful, and +with an intensity that wets His brow and shuts His jaw hard. + +This king who serves is _a man_. He _can_ be a king of men for He is a +_man_. He has the first qualification. I might use an old-fashioned word +in the first old-time meaning,--He is _a fellow_, one who shares the +bed and bread of our common experience. And so He is _kin to us_, both +in lineage and in experience, in blood and in spirit. + +And John's share in this partnership message adds a simple bold touch of +colouring that makes the picture a masterpiece, _the_ masterpiece. This +King who serves, and is nearest of kin to us, is also _nearest of kin to +God_. He is not only of the blood royal, and the blood human, but of the +blood divine. He was with God before calendars came into use. He was the +God of that creative Genesis week. He came on an errand down to the +earth, and when the errand was done, and well done, He went back home, +bearing on His person the marks of His fidelity to the Father's errand. +This is John's bit of rich high colouring. + +And so _we are nearest of kin to God_ through Jesus. Kinship is always a +matter of blood. There is a double kinship, through the blood of +inheritance, and the blood of sacrifice. Our _inherited_ kinship of +blood has been lost. But His blood of sacrifice has made a new kinship. +We had broken the entail of our inheritance clean beyond mending. We +were _outcasts_ by our own act. But He _cast in_. His lot with us, and +so drew us back and up and in. He made a new entail through His blood. +And that new entail is as unbreakable as the old broken one is +unmendable. And so we come into the family of a King. And we are +kingliest in character when we are Christliest in spirit and action. We +are most like the King when we are helping others. + +Our true motto, in our relation to our fellows, is: "I am among you as +he that serveth." Towel and basin, bended knee and comforted +pilgrim-feet and refreshed spirit,--this is our family crest. We're kin +to all the race through Jesus. Black skin and white, yellow and brown; +round heads and long, slanting eyes and oval, in slum alley and palatial +home, below the equator and above it,--all are our kinsmen. + +We are reaching highest when we are stooping lowest to help some one up. +We're nearest like God in character when we're getting nearest in touch +to those needing help. We are kingliest and Godliest and Christliest +when we're controlled by men's needs, but always under the higher +control of the Holy Spirit. + +This is the composite message of the four Gospels; and this is its +practical human outworking. + + + +God on a Wooing Errand. + + +But it's the other John message we are especially after just now. +There's another message of John's book quite distinct from this, though +naturally allied with it. And this other is the crowding message of his +book. Its thought crowds in upon you till every other is crowded into +second place. And as it gets hold of you it crowds your mind and heart +and life till every other is either crowded out, or crowded to a lower +place; _out_, if it jars; _lower place_, if it agrees, for every +agreeing bit yields to the lead of this tremendous message. + +But one must get hold of John before John's message gets hold of him. +John was swayed by a passion. It was a fiery passion flaming through all +his life. It burned through him as the fierce forest fire burns through +the underbrush. Every base thing was eaten up by its flame. Every less +worthy thing came under its heat. It melted and mellowed and moulded his +whole being. + +It was _the Jesus-passion_. It was kindled that memorable afternoon +early in his life down in the Jordan bottoms.[1] John's namesake, the +Herald, applied the kindling match. From then on the flames never +flickered nor burned low. They increased steadily, and they increased in +purity, until his whole life was under their holy heat. + +John didn't always understand his Master. Sometimes he misunderstood. +But he never failed in his trust of Him, nor in his fidelity to Him. Of +the chosen inner circle John was the one who remained true through the +sorest test, that betrayal-night test. Judas betrayed; Peter denied; the +nine fled in terror down the road to save their cowardly lives; John +went in "_with_ Jesus." That fiery nature of his, that early won for him +the stormy name "son of thunder," came completely under the sway of this +holier tenderer stronger flame, and burned itself out in a passion of +love for Jesus. + +The Jesus-passion swayed John completely. This explains the man, and his +career. It explains this little book of his ripe old age. And only this +can. One must read the book through John's own heart, then he begins to +understand it. This Jesus-passioned man is the key to the book, the +human key. + +And the distinctive message of the book is simply this: _Jesus was God +on a wooing errand to the earth_. That simple sentence covers fully all +that is found in John's twenty-one chapters. Every line in these +fourteen or fifteen pages can be traced back into that brief statement. + +Indeed this becomes an outline of the book. See: in the opening +paragraphs the wooing Lover is coming down to earth.[2] In the first +twelve chapters the Lover is pleading winsomely and earnestly for +acceptance.[3] Then He is seen in closest touch with the inner group of +those who have accepted, opening His heart yet more, wooing still +closer.[4] Then comes the last tragic pleading, pleading in intensest +action, with those who persist in rejecting.[5] And then the last close +heart-touches with the inner circle.[6] + + + +The Water-Mark of John's Gospel. + + +The very words John so thoughtfully chooses as his leading words bear +the distinct impress of this, like the sharply indented stamp of the +mint on the new coin. Two such words stand out above all others, +"believe" and "witness." The first actually occurs oftenest, sounding +out like the dominant chord of music running throughout a symphony. The +second is like the chief warp-thread into which the fabric is being +woven. + +The two words are really twins, born at the same time, of the same +mother. They grow up together and work in perfect accord. The witnessing +is that men may understand and believe. It's the servant leading up to +the belief that shall become the mastering thing. The belief is servant, +too, in turn, leading up to the witnessing that becomes the mastering +passion in those who believe. + +These words are worth digging into for the fine gold that lies hidden +within waiting the miner's pick. The word "believe" is a nugget of pure +gold, whether you take our English word or John's word lying underneath. +The underneath word, that John uses in his own mother tongue, runs a +sliding scale of meaning. + +It's a ladder rising from bottom round to topmost. It means to be +persuaded that a thing is true; then to place confidence in it, to +trust. And _trust_ always contains the idea of _risk_. The heart-meaning +always is that you _risk_ something very precious to you, risk it to the +point of heart-breaking disaster if your trust proves wrong. + +Our English word is of very close kin. It runs the same sort of sliding +scale, from something valuable and precious in itself, on to something +that _satisfies you_ regarding the matter in hand. You are not only +satisfied but pleased, content. And so there is the same trusting and +risking, the same leaning your whole weight upon the thing. Deep down +at its root, _believe_ is a close kinsman to _love_. They both spring +out of the same warm creative womb. + +When we dig a bit into that word _believe_ in the usage of common life +it means three distinct things, each leading straight into the +other,--knowledge, belief, trust. That is, _facts_, facts _accepted_, +facts _trusted_ in regard to something that takes hold of your life. You +hear something. You believe it's true. But there must be the third +thing, risking something valuable. There's no belief in the +heart-meaning without this thing of _risking_. The trust that risks is +the life blood of faith. The rest is only the bony skeleton with tendons +and sinews and flesh. There's no life without the blood. There's no +belief without trust. + +And the word _witness_ is the same pure-gold sort of nugget, assaying +full weight. John's native word and our own are just the same in +meaning. Their meaning is _to tell what you know_. We shall be running +across this word again, and digging a bit deeper into it. But this is +the thing that stands out in it. You tell something that you yourself +know. There's personal knowledge. There's a telling some one else this +thing you know. And yet more, there's the purpose in the telling, that +others may know what you know, and get all the good that comes with +knowing it. + +The _witnessing_ is that others may _believe_. It is a striking thing in +John that the _thought_ of witness is more common than the _word_. The +word occurs several times, and always in a leading way. But the thought +of witnessing is the colouring of every page, and the chief colouring. + +I said that these two words were twins, born at the same time, of the +same mother. That warm-hearted brooding mother is the word _wooing_. +Originally _wooing_ means bending towards, inclining forward or reaching +out towards another. And the purpose of the reaching out is to get the +other to reach forward towards you. And that purpose puts the warm feel +into the reaching out. + +All words were pictures first. Here in this word _wooing_ is a picture, +by one of the old masters, waiting to be restored, with all the dusty +accumulations of the years carefully removed. And here's the picture: a +man standing, with the light of the morning shining in His eyes, body +bending forward, hands reaching out, with an eagerness, an expectancy in +every line of His body, and tender love glowing out of His face, and +sounding in the very tones with which the voice is calling. + +This picture is really the water-mark on the paper of John's Gospel. +Hold up the paper of John's Gospel to the light. The best light for the +purpose is found on Mount Calvary. High altitudes have clearer light. +You see more distinctly. Now look. Hold still that you may see all the +outlines more distinctly. There's the form of a Man standing in pleading +attitude, with outstretched hands. His face combines all the fineness of +the finest woman's face, with all the strength of the strongest man's, +and more, immensely more, all the purity and tenderness and power of +_God's_ face. It _is_ God Himself in human form coming a-wooing to +earth, and we call His name Jesus. This conception is the very +atmosphere of John's Gospel. + +Jesus is the witness of the Father to men. He knew the Father. He knew +Him by closest intimacy. He lived with Him. He came down to _tell_ what +He knew. He wanted others to know too. He wanted them to know _even as_ +He knew. _Telling_ is the whole of Jesus; telling men of the Father. + +His mere presence, His character, His warm sympathy, His practical +helpfulness, His words, His actions, most of all His dying and His +rising, all these were a _telling_, a witnessing, a wooing; telling the +Father's love, telling the damnableness of our sin by giving His very +life blood to get it out of us; so telling us how we might really know +the mother-heart of the Father. + + + +Jesus the Dividing Line. + + +There are several contrasts between the first three Gospels and John's. +It is very striking to notice one in particular in this connection. One +reading the first three Gospels for the first time is impressed with the +fact of Jesus' _rejection_. This stands out peculiarly and dominantly. +It was the great fact, told most terribly in the death of Jesus. It was +the thing that stood out sharpest in the generation to which Jesus +belonged, the generation for whom these three Gospels were written at +the first. + +But John wrote his story for an after-generation, a generation that had +not known the man Jesus by personal touch and observation. And so it was +for all after-generations. And John makes it very clear that Jesus was +rejected, _and_ accepted. + +He was indeed _rejected_; that fact stands out as painfully here as in +the others. He was rejected by the little inner clique that held the +national reins, and held them with fevered tenacity, and drove hard. And +the reason for it is made to stand out as plainly as the fact. The envy +and jealousy, the intense bitterness and viciousness and devilish +obstinacy back of the rejection stand as boldly out to all eyes as to +Pilate's. + +But the other side stands out sharply too. Jesus was _accepted_. He was +accepted by all classes, by the cultured, and the scholarly, by +thoughtful studious leaders and officials of the nation. He was accepted +by the great middle classes and by those in lowest scale socially, and +by the moral outcasts. Intense Hebrews, Roman officials of high rank, +half-breed Samaritans, and men of outside nations group themselves +together by their full acceptance of Jesus. + +He was listened to, doubted, questioned, discussed, thought over, _and +then accepted._ And He was accepted with a faith and with a love that +counted not suffering nor sacrifice for the sake of Him whom they +believed and trusted and loved. John makes this clear, rejected _and_ +accepted. + +Jesus divided the crowds. Down the road He comes, with quiet strength, +witnessing to the great simple truth of the Father's pure strong wooing +love. And the crowd looks and listens and--_divides_. Some reject; +clearly they are a minority, but entrenched in a position of power that +proves quite sufficient for their purpose. Though it took all the power +at their command to carry out their purpose. + +Others accept. These are the crowds, the majority. Some don't +understand. Their motives are selfish or mixed, like some other folks' +motives. Some are played upon by the cunning of the leaders and swung +away. But there remain the thoughtful ones whose faith goes from +weakness to strength; it grows from more to yet more. It mellows from a +true simple faith to a deepened, seasoned, sorely-tested, +surely-toughened faith that loves, loves clear down to the roots, and +endures gladly. This is the simple warp-thread into which John's very +simple story of Jesus is woven. + + + +Spelling God. + + +_I_ want to give you _a bunch of keys_, as we start into these homely +talks in John's Gospel. They are simple keys. Any one can use them. They +fit easily and smoothly into every lock, the lock of your life, the lock +of any circumstance, any sore problem that may come up to baffle all +your efforts. They bring treasures within easy reach. They open up the +way into all you need. There is a key to God, a key to the Book of God, +and then there are three keys to this little John book. + +_The key to God_ is in one little word. It has two spellings, sometimes +with four letters, sometimes with five, and both correct spellings. The +four-lettered spelling is for all the world. The five-lettered spelling +is chiefly used in the western half of the earth, and along certain +lines and in certain spots here and there in the eastern half where the +word is known. + +That first spelling is l-o-v-e. God is love. Love is of God. _God is +always controlled by a purpose_ in all His dealings with the race, and +with you and me. There is no chance-happening with Him, no caprice, no +shadow in His path that tells of His being swerved aside, by anything we +do, from a steady purpose. + +And that controlling purpose is _always a purpose of love._ It's a +purpose of strong steady pure clinging brooding love. The bother is we +don't know what that word _love_ means; none of us. We know words but +not the real things they stand for. We don't know the real thing of love +because we don't know the real thing of God. If we knew, oh! if we but +knew it--Him--how that simple statement would melt us down, and mellow +us through, and mould us all over anew! + +That's the shorter spelling. It is the universal spelling. That love is +being spelled out to all the race by every twinkling star in the upper +blue, every shade of green in the lower brown, by every cooling shading +night, and every fragrantly dewy morning. Every breath of air and bite +of food and draught of water is repeating God's spelling lesson. These +are the pages in God's primer. So we all may learn to spell out God. And +so we get the right spelling of our own lives. + +Then there's the other spelling, the five-lettered, J-e-s-u-s. It's the +same thing, only spelled differently; spelled in a yet better way. The +spelling grows bigger to us when Jesus comes. When we know Him it takes +more to spell out and to tell out God's love. God grows larger to our +eyes as He comes walking among us as Jesus. No, He doesn't grow larger. +We simply begin to find out how large He is. + +This is the closer, more human spelling. The letters are nearer and seem +bigger as they come walking down the street where we live, and knock at +our own door. They're easier spelled out. We can get hold of them +better. Love is a thing, we _think_. Jesus is _a person_. It's so +different to touch a person. But when we know, we know that both +spellings tell the same thing. So far, only about a third of us have +heard anything about this second, this closer spelling. Two out of three +haven't heard about it yet. But those who really know this spelling are +eager for the others to get it, too. + +God is always controlled by a great simple purpose in thinking of you +and me. And it is an unfailing purpose of strong tender love. This is +the first key. Any one may take it and use it. It is unfailing. It will +fit every lock. It unlock every problem. It will open up the riches to +any life. They're brought within easy reach of any hand by the steady +use of this key. + +This is the key to God. It unlocks the doors and lets Him freely into +our lives. Then we find out how much truer it is than we can understand. + +Then there's _the key to the Book of God._ There are many keys here, of +course. Daily time alone with the Book, thoughtful reading, prayer, some +simple plan, putting into your life what has been put in its +pages,--these are all good keys. But there's a master-key, _the_ +master-key. It is simply this: glad surrender of will to the God of the +Book. I mean a strong intelligent yielding to His mastery in all of +one's plans and life. The highest act of the strongest will is yielding +to a higher will when you find it. And you find the higher, the highest, +will here. + +This is the master-key. Bending the will affects eyes and ears and mind. +The hinges of eye and ear are in the will. As the will bends those +hinges move of themselves. Eye and ear and mind open. The lower the will +bends, the more fully and habitually, the more will eyes and ears open, +the keener and more alert will be the mental processes, the more +intelligent the understanding. And there comes to be a continual mutual +shifting. With better understanding can come stronger more intelligent +yielding of will, and so again clearer light. + +And it is striking to discover that there's a practical connection +between the joints of the knees and the joint of the will. The bending +of knees to a sharp right angle affects the will. It is easier to bend +it. It bends better and more. And this grows. The habitual bending of +the knees helps make habitual and stronger and more intelligent the +bending of the will. + +This is the master-key to the Book of God. It opens every lock and page. +It opens us to the Book, and opens the Book to us. It frees out to us +the wondrous Spirit who is in these pages. And so through the opened +Book there come to be the direct touch with the God of the Book. We +don't come to the Book merely; we come _through_ it to Him who comes +through it to us. This is the second key in this bunch. + + + +Three Keys. + + +Now, I want to give you _the three keys to John's Gospel._ There's a +back-door key, a side-door key, and a front-door key. These keys hang +outside the doors, low down, that so any one who wants to can easily +reach up, and get them. And if used faithfully and simply they will be +found to unlock every page and line and difficult question. + +_The back-door key_ hangs right at the back door. It is the very last +verse of chapter twenty. That really was the last chapter at first. The +thought of the book comes to a close there. The story is complete. Then +the Holy Spirit led John to add a little, a second last-chapter, an +added touch for good measure. Love is never content. It is always adding +more. + +Here is the key: "_these are written that ye may believe that Jesus is +the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life through +His name_." This was John's whole thought in telling the Jesus-story. +The practical gripped him wholly and hard. This is the thing that guides +his selection of incidents. This purpose shapes the shape of the book. +It explains everything told, and just why it is told in just the way it +is told. + +John lets Jesus walk before our eyes fresh from His Father's presence. +The mere fact of His presence, the winsomeness of His personality, the +clearness of His teaching, the power of His actions, the uncompromising +purity of His character amidst sin-stained crowds and sin-dirtied +surroundings, the unflinching rigidity of His ideals, the persuasiveness +of His very manner and tone of speech, the patience and gentleness, the +rugged granite strength, the mother tenderness, above all the +willingness to suffer so terribly,--all this is a plea, a tremendous +overpowering plea, all the stronger because presented so simply and +briefly. Jesus is a Lover and this is His wooing. + +And John's one thought in writing is the same as the one thought in the +Lover's heart. John has become simply an echo of Jesus. It is this, that +_you_, whoever you are, wherever, whatever, that you may _believe_. You +look and listen, question, puzzle a bit maybe, but keep on listening and +looking, thinking, weighing, till you are clear these things are just so +as John tells them. Yon accept them as trustworthy. Then you accept +_Him_, Jesus, as He comes to you, your wooing Lover, your Lover-God, +your Saviour and Lord. + +You _believe_: that is you _love_. The grammar of the word works itself +out inside you thus,--believe, trust, love. The truth comes in through +eyes and ears and feeling, into brain and will; through emotion clear +down into your heart. You love. You cannot help yourself. You love +_Him_, Jesus, the One so lovable. + +John says that you _may_ believe. It is possible. It is the reasonable +intelligent thing to do after such a presentation. John makes it easy +for us to believe. His telling of the story is so strong and convincing, +though so simple and short, that believing is the natural thing. Jesus +Himself, as He conies to us through John's eyes and speech, is so +believable, so trustworthy, so lovable. + +Now we _may_ believe. It's the thing to do after a thoughtful kneeful +study of the case as put by John. We _may believe_ clear into and +through intellect and emotions and will, right down into the depths of +heart and love, clear out into every action of the life. + +And John sweeps in the whole crowd of the world in the way he puts it +here. Listen: "that you may believe that Jesus is _the Christ_." That +was for the Jew peculiarly in the first instance. The Jew had been +taught through generations that there was One coming who was God's +chosen One for the Hebrew nation. He was the _Anointed One_. The Hebrew +said _Messiah_. The Greek said _Christ_. Both mean the same, the One +chosen of God, anointed by Him as the King and Leader of His chosen +people, and through them of all the race. + +Listen further: "that Jesus is _the Son of God." That_ is for all of us, +Jew and foreigner, insider and outsider. This Jesus is in a distinctive +sense _the_ Son of God, the only begotten Son. This pure loving pleading +wooing suffering dying rising-again Jesus, this is the only begotten Son +of the Father. All there is in a Father comes to, and is in, an only +begotten son. This is God Himself coming to us in His Son. + +Once let this sift into thought and heart, then who would _not_ believe, +_and_ trust, _and_ love, _and_ fall on his face in the utter devotion of +a voluntary slave before such a God! + +And so believing, trusting, loving, touching, His life flows in and +fills up and floods out. We have it _now_. That word _eternal_, used so +often by John with the word _life_, is not a mere _length_ word. It is +not a calendar word. It tells the sort of life, the quality of life, +that comes in through the opening door of our believing. This is John's +back-door key, but it lets you clear in through the whole house. + +Then there is _the side-door key_. It hangs at the side, a bit towards +the back. It is in the Thursday night talk, as we commonly call it, that +last heart-talk with the inner group on the betrayal night. It is in +chapter sixteen, verse twenty-eight: "_I came out from the Father, and +am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go unto the +Father_." + +Run through this Gospel with that fresh in your mind, and it is +perfectly fascinating to find how much like a magnet it is, picking out +to itself so many bits from the Master's lips that fit exactly into it. +Jesus' constant thought was that He used to be with the Father; He came +down on an errand to the earth. By and by when the errand was done He +would go back home again. + +This sentence becomes a simple, exact, comprehensive outline of the +entire Gospel. Notice: "_I came out from the Father_": that is chapter +one, verses one to eighteen. There Jesus is seen coming down from His +Father's own presence. Then chapter one, verse nineteen through to the +close of the twelfth chapter is fully described and covered by the next +clause, "_and am come into the world_." Here He is seen in the world, in +the midst of its crowds and contentions and oppositions. + +"_Again, I leave the world_,"--chapters thirteen to nineteen. In chapters +thirteen to seventeen He is tenderly leaving the inner circle. In +chapters eighteen and nineteen He is going out of the world by the +terrible doorway of the cross it had carpentered for Him. How quietly He +says the words, though the terrible going is yet to come, and is now so +near that He can already feel the shame and the thorns and the nails. + +And as quietly He looks beyond and adds, "_and go unto the Father_." In +chapters twenty and twenty-one He lingers a little for the sake of these +being left behind, but His face is already turned homeward. They would +hold Him in their midst. He quietly tells them that He is going back +home to the Father to get things ready for them, as He had said. + + + +He Comes to His Own. + + +_The front-door key_ hangs right at the very front, outside, low down, +where even a child's hand can reach it. It is in chapter one, verses +eleven and twelve: "_He came unto His own, and they that were His own +received Him not. But as many as received Him to them gave He the right +to become children of God, even to them who believe on His name_." This +is the great key, the chief key to this whole house. It flings the front +door wide open and you are inside at once, and take in the whole of the +house at a glance, one glance, one wonderful glance. + +The first twelve chapters tell of Jesus coming to His own, His own +nation, humanly, racially, His own chosen people. He is coming steadily +and persistently, in spite of rebuffs; coming patiently, tenderly, +earnestly; coming ever closer in the ever increasing measure of divine +power seen in His actions. + +And continually, persistently, He is being rejected and accepted. He is +rejected silently and contemptuously, then aggressively and bitterly, +viciously and murderously. "His own received Him not." But many received +Him, eagerly and warmly and thoughtfully. They received Him with a +growing depth of conviction and deepening tenderness of love. And as +they come, He is ever receiving them, giving them that touch of new +life that marks only the children of God. + +In chapters thirteen to seventeen He is receiving into closer fellowship +those who have received Him, and at the same time wooing them into yet +closer touch. The story of the trial and crucifixion in chapters +eighteen and nineteen, puts the most terrific emphasis on the words, +"_received Him not_." They not only keep Him out of His own possessions, +but do their worst in putting Him out of life. And the little book +closes in its last two chapters with His receivers being received into +the sweetest intimacies of tested triumphant love and into the inner +secrets of rarest resurrection power. + +This is the most heart-breaking of all of John's heart-breaking +sentences. John had a hard time writing this Gospel of his. He was not +simply writing a book; that might have been fairly easy. But he was +telling about a friend of his, _the_ friend of his life, his one dearest +Friend. And when he remembers how they treated Him his eyes fill up, and +his heart beats till it thumps, and his quill sticks into the paper in +sheer reluctance to tell the story. + +I think likely in the original manuscript, John's own first copy, the +writing was a bit shaky and uneven here. The dew of his wet eyes drops +and blurs the words a bit as he puts down, "He came to His own, and . . +they who were His own . . _received . . Him . . not_." + +One day a young student was crossing the quadrangles of one of the old +Scottish Universities towards his quarters in the dormitory. He was not +feeling well. His eyes had troubled him and made his work very +difficult. On the advice of a friend he sought the judgment of an expert +in the treatment of the eyes. The specialist made a very thorough +examination and then informed the young student tactfully but plainly +that he would lose his eyesight, surely and not slowly. + +Lose his eyesight? A sudden terrific actual blow between his eyes could +not have stunned his body more than this stunned brain and heart. Lose +his eyesight! All his plans and coveted ambitions seemed slipping clean +out from his grasp. With the loss of eyes would go the loss of +university training, and so of all his dreams. Dazed, blinded, he groped +his way rather than walked out of the physician's office. + +His life was to be joined with another's. And now he turned his +distracted steps towards her home, hungry doubtless for some word or +touch of comfort for his sore heart. And he was thinking, too, that with +this utter break-up of the future she must be told. And as he talked he +said in quiet manly words that under these unexpected circumstances, and +the radical change in his prospects, she must be free to do as she +thought best. + +And she took her freedom! Yet she was a woman. And a woman's mission is +to teach man love by the real thing of love, by being it herself, and +drawing it out into full flower in him. That was the second staggering +blow. A second time he groped his dazed way out of the house, down the +street, into his lone student quarters. + +But another One was near, brooding over him, and tenderly holding his +breaking heart, and speaking words of warm comfort, and breathing in the +freshing breath of true love. And as he yielded to this it overcame all +else. A new mood came and dominated. And it became the fixed thing +mastering all his life. Now he sits down, and out of his torn bleeding +but newly-touched heart writes the words we have all learned to sing: + + "O Love that will _not_ let me go, + I rest my weary soul in Thee, + I give Thee back the life I owe, + That in thine ocean depths its flow + May richer, fuller be. + + "O Light that followest all my way, + I yield my flickering torch to Thee; + My heart restores its borrowed ray + That in Thy sunshine's glow its day + May brighter, fairer be. + + "O Joy that seekest me through pain, + I cannot close my heart to Thee; + I trace the rainbow through the rain, + And feel the promise is not vain + That morn shall tearless be. + + "O Cross that liftest up my head, + I dare not ask to hide from Thee; + I lay in dust life's glory dead, + And from the ground there blossoms red + Life that shall endless be." + +And with but a single change, the change of a word or two in one line, +they stand as at first written. I suppose his biographer omitted the +incident for the same reason that the first three Gospels may have +omitted the incident of Lazarus while he was still living. So there was +a sheltering from personal embarrassment. + +He came to his own and his own received him not. _He_--Jesus came to +_His_ own and they that were His own received Him not. Aye, there's more +to add: He _comes_ to His own--you and me--to-day. And His own-- + +You and I must finish that sentence, each in his own way. And we will; +and we do. We may copy out in our lives just what these men of old did +as told by John. Some of us do. We _may_ do some fine revision work on +the text of John's version as we translate it now into the experience of +our own hearts, and into the life of our own lives. That's the only way +to understand the next sentence about being taken into the family of God +and sharing the fullness of life that is common there. + +And this bit that is put down here is only a bit of copy work. _These +things_ are talked and written only that we may be given a lift into +closer touch of heart and life with the Christ, the Son of God, and the +Brother and Saviour of men. + + + + +II + +The Wooing Lover + + _Who it Was that Came_ + + + + + "But with unhurrying chase, + And unperturbed pace, + Deliberate speed, majestic instancy, + They beat--and a Voice beat + More instant than the Feet-- + _'All things betray thee, who betrayest Me'_" + + --"_The Hound of Heaven._" + + + "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: 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." + + --_Rev. iii. 20._ + + + + +II + +The Wooing Lover + +(John i. 1-18.) + + + +In His Own Image. + + +Love gives. It gives freely and without stint, yet always thoughtfully. +It gives itself out, its very life. This is its life, to give its life. +It lives most by giving most. So it comes into fullness of life. + +So it _gets_. A thing of life, in its own image, comes walking eagerly +with outstretched arms to its embrace. It gives that it may get. Yet the +giving is the greater. It brings most joy. + +This is the very essence of life, this giving creating spirit. It is +everywhere, in lower life and higher and highest, wherever the touch of +God has come. The sun gives itself out in life and light and warmth. And +out to greet it comes a bit of itself--the fine form and sweet fragrance +of the rose, the tender blade of grass, the unfolding green of the leaf, +the wealth of the soil, the song of the bird and the grateful answer of +all nature. + +The hen sits long patient days on her nest. And forth comes cheeping +life in her own image, answering the call of her mothering spirit. The +mother-bird in the nest in the crotch of the tree gives her life day by +day in brooding love. And her wee nestling offspring, in her own image, +answers with glad increase of strength and growth. + +Father and mother of our human kind give of their very life that new +life may come. And under the overshadowing touch of an unseen Presence +comes a new life made in their image, and in His who broods unseen over +all three. And over the life wrecked by sin broods the Spirit of God. +And out through the doorway of an opening will, comes a new creature of +winsome life in the very image of that brooding Spirit of God. + +This is the holy commonplace of all life. It is the touch of God. It is +everywhere about us, and beneath and above. The father-mother Spirit of +God broods over all our common life. And when things go wrong, He broods +a bit closer and tenderer. He meets every need of the life He has +created. And He meets it in the same way, by giving Himself. + +And there's always the response. The fragrance of the rose answers the +sun. The pipped shell brings the longed-for answer to the gladdened +mother-bird. The ever wondrous babe-eyes give unspeakable answer to the +yearning of father and mother heart. The heart of man leaps at the call +of his God. + +This makes quite clear the wondrous response men gave Jesus when He +walked among us. Jesus was God coming a bit closer in His brooding love +to mend a break and restore a blurred image. And men answered Him. They +couldn't help it. How they came! They didn't understand Him, but they +felt Him. They couldn't resist the tender, tremendous pull upon their +hearts of His mere presence. + +And Jesus drew man into the closest touch of intimate friendship. The +long-range way of doing things never suited Him. And it doesn't. He +didn't keep man at arm's length. And He doesn't. And then because they +were friends, He and they, they were eager to serve, and willing even to +suffer, to walk a red-marked roadway for Him they loved. + + + +The Gospel According to--You. + + +Among all those who felt and answered the call of Jesus was one called +John, John the disciple. Jesus drew John close. John came close. John +lived close. John came early and he stayed late. He stayed to the very +end, into the evening glow of life. And all his long life he was under +the tender holy spell of Jesus' presence. He was swayed by the +Jesus-passion. Always burning, he was yet never consumed; only the alloy +burned up and burned out, himself refined to the quality of life called +eternal. + +Then John came to the end of his long life. And he knew he would be +slipping the tether of life and going out and up and in to the real +thing of life. And I think John was a bit troubled. Not because he was +going to die. This never troubles the man who knows Jesus. The +Jesus-touch overcomes the natural twinges of death. But he was troubled +a bit in spirit for a little by the thought that he would not be on +earth any longer to talk to people about Jesus. And to John this was the +one thing worth while. This was the life-passion. + +And so I think John prayed about it a bit. For this is what he did. He +said to himself, "I will write a book. I'll make it a little book, so +busy people can quickly read it. I'll pick out the simplest words I know +so common folks everywhere that don't have dictionaries can easily +understand. And I'll make them into the shortest simplest sentences I +can so they can quickly get my story of Jesus." And so John wrote his +little book. And we call it the story of Jesus according to John, or, as +we commonly say the Gospel--the God-story--according to John. + +And all this is a simple bit of a parable. It is a parable in action. +Jesus is brooding over us, giving Himself, warmly wooing us. He woos us +into personal friendship with Himself. And then He asks that each of us +shall write a gospel. This is the Gospel according to John; and these +others according to Luke and Mark and Matthew. He means that there shall +be the gospel according to--_you_. What is your name? put it in there. +Then you get the Master's plan. There is to be the gospel according to +Charles and Robert and George, and Mary and Elizabeth and Margaret. + +And you say, "Write a gospel? I couldn't do that. You don't mean that. +That's just a bit of preaching." No, it isn't preaching. It's so. I do +not mean to write with a common pen of steel or gold; nor on just common +paper of rags or wood-pulp. But I do mean--_He_ means--that you shall +write with the pen of your daily life. And that you shall write on the +paper of the lives of those you're touching and living with every day. + +Clearly, He meant, and He means, that you and I shall live such simple +unselfish lovable Jesus-touched lives, in just the daily commonplace +round of life, that those we live with shall know the whole story of +Jesus' love and life; His love burned out for us till there were no +ashes, and His life poured out for us till not a red drop was left +unspilled. + +Are _you_ writing _your_ gospel? Is your life spelling out this simple +wondrous God-story? I can find out, though, of course, I shall not. What +I mean is this,--_the crowd knows._ The folks that touch you every day, +they know. This old Bible was never printed so much as to-day, nor +issued more numerously. And--thoughtfully--it was never read _less_ by +the common crowd on the common street of life than to-day. + +That doesn't mean that the crowd doesn't read what it supposes to be +religious literature. It does. I wish we church folk read our religious +literature as faithfully as this crowd I speak of reads its. It is +reading _the gospel according to you,_ and reading it daily, and +closely, and faithfully, and remembering what it reads, and being shaped +by it. + +This Bible I have here is bound in--I think it is called sealskin. I +tried to get the best wearing binding I could. But I've discovered that +there's a better binding than this. The best binding for the Gospel is +shoe-leather. The old Gospel of the Son of God is at its best as it is +being tramped out on the common street of life. Its truths stand out +clearest as they're walked out. Its love comes warmest, its power is +most resistless as it comes to you in the common give-and-take of daily +touch in home and shop and street. Are you writing your copy of the +Gospel? + +You know that sometimes scholars have found some precious manuscripts in +old monasteries. They have gone into some old, grey, stone monkery in +the Near East, and they have run across old manuscripts hidden away in +some dark cell, covered with dust and with rubbish, perhaps. With much +tact and diplomacy they have at length managed to get possession of the +coveted manuscript. And they have been fairly delighted to find that +they have gotten hold of a remnant, a very precious remnant, of one of +these Gospels. In just this way much invaluable light has been gotten +that made possible these precious revised versions. + +I wonder if _your_ gospel--the one you're writing with your life--is +_just a remnant,_ a ragged remnant. And perhaps there's a good bit of +dusting necessary, and removing of rubbish, to get even at what there is +there. And some of the shy hungry hearts that touch you and me need to +use quite a bit of unconscious diplomacy perhaps to get even as much as +they do. I wonder. The crowd knows. It could throw a good bit of light +here. How much of this old Jesus-story _are_ you really _living!_ + +Of course, there's a special touch of inspiration in these four Gospels. +The Holy Spirit brooded over these men in a special way as they wrote. +That is true. These are the standard Gospels. We would never know the +blessed story but for these four Spirit-breathed little books. But it is +also true that that same Holy Spirit will guide you in the writing of +your version of the Gospel. + +These four Gospels are different from each other. The colouring of +Luke's warm personality, and of his physician habit of thought is in his +Gospel very plainly. And so it is with each one of these Gospels. And, +even so, there will be the colouring of your personality, your habit of +thought, the distinct tinge of the experience you have been through, in +the gospel you write with the pen of your life, and bind up in the +shoe-leather of your daily round. + +But through all of this there will be the simple, subtle, but very real, +atmosphere of the Holy Spirit, helping you make the story plain and +full, and helping people to understand that story as it is _lived_, as +they never can simply by hearing it told with tongues or read through +eyes. + +Are you writing your gospel? Is your daily life spelling out the life +and love of Jesus, that life that was poured out till none was left, +that love that was burned out till even the ashes were burned up, too? +This is the Master's plan. And practically it is the crowd's only +chance. + + + +God in Human Garb. + + +Now I want to have you turn with me to the opening lines of John's +Gospel. There are not many of these opening lines. The whole story is a +short one. These lines at the beginning are like an etching, there are +the fewest touches of pen on paper, of black ink on white surface. But +the few lines are put in so simply and skilfully that they make an +exquisite picture. It's the picture of _God coming in human garb as a +wooing Lover._ + +I think it might be best perhaps if I might simply give you _a sort of +free reading_ of these opening lines, with a word of comment or +illustration to try to make the meaning simpler. It will be a putting of +John's words into the simple every-day colloquial speech that we +English-speaking people use. John used very simple language in his own +telling of the story in his mother-tongue. And it may help if we try to +do the same. + +You will quickly see how very simple this free translation will be. Yet, +let me say, that though homely and simple it will be strictly accurate +to what John is thinking and saying in his own native speech. I mean of +course, so far as I can find out just what he is thinking and saying. + +Let us turn then to John's Gospel, at its beginning. And it will help +very much if we keep our Bibles open as we talk and read together. + +Listen: _in the beginning there was a wondrous One_. He was the mind of +God thinking out to man. He was the heart of God throbbing love out to +man's heart. He was the face of God looking into man's face. He was the +voice of God, soft and low, clear and distinct, speaking into man's +ears. He was the hand of God, strong and tender, reaching down to take +man by the hand and lead him back to the old trysting-place under the +tree of life, down by the river of water of life. + +He was the person of God wearing a human coat and human shoes, +hand-pegged, walking in freely amongst us that we might get our tangled +up ideas about God and ourselves and about life untangled, straightened +out. He was God Himself wrapped up in human form coming close that we +might get acquainted with Him all over again. + +This is part of the meaning of the little five-lettered word in his own +tongue that John chooses and uses, at the first here, as a new name for +Him who was commonly called Jesus. It was because of our ears that he +used the new word. If he had said "Jesus" at once, they would have said +"Oh! yes, we know about Him." And at once their ears would have gone +shut to the thing that John is saying. + +For they didn't know. And we don't. We know _words_. The thing, the real +thing, we know so little. So John uses a new word at the first, and so +floods in new light. And then we come to see whom he is talking about. +It's a bit of the diplomacy of God so as to get in through dulled ears +and truth-hardened minds down in to the heart. + +Nature always seems eager to meet a defect. It seems to hurry eagerly +forward to overcome defects and difficulties. The blind man has more +acute hearing and a more delicate sense of feel. The deaf man's eyes +grow quicker to watch faces and movements and so learn what his ears +fail to tell him. The lame man leans more on other muscles, and they +answer with greater strength to meet the defect of the weaker muscles. + +The bat has shunned the light so long through so many bat-generations +that it has become blind, but it has remarkable ears, and nature has +grown for it an abnormal sense of touch, and a peculiar sensitiveness +even where there is no contact, so that it avoids obstacles in flying +with a skill that seems uncanny, incredulous. + +I remember in Cincinnati one night, sitting on the platform of a public +meeting by the side of a widely known Christian worker and speaker who +was blind. As various men spoke he quietly made brief comments to me,--" +_He_ doesn't strike fire." And then, "_He_ doesn't touch them." And +then, "Ah! _he's_ got them; that's it; now they're burning." And it was +exactly so as he said. I sat fascinated as I watched the crowd and heard +his comments. The sense of discerning what was going on in another way +than by sight had been grown in him by the very necessity of his +blindness. Defect in one sense was overcome by nature, by increase in +another sense. + +When Queen Victoria was in residence in Scotland at Balmoral it was her +kindly custom to present the various clergymen who preached in the +Castle chapel with a photograph marked with her autograph. When George +Matheson, the famous blind preacher, came she showed the fine thoughtful +tact for which she was famous. Clearly an autographed photograph would +not mean much in itself to a blind man. So the Queen had a miniature +bust-statue made and presented to him as her acknowledgment of his +service. And so where his eyes failed to let him see, his sense of touch +would carry to his mind and heart the fine features of the gracious +sovereign he was so glad to serve. + +Jesus was God coming in such a way that we could know Him _by the feel_. +We had gone blind to His face. We couldn't read His signature plainly +autographed by His own hand on the blue above and the brown below. But +when Jesus came _men knew God by the feel_. They didn't understand +Jesus. But the sore hungry crowds reached out groping trembling fingers, +and they knew Him. They began to get acquainted with their gracious +Sovereign. + +All this gives the simple clue to this word "_Word_" which John uses as +a new name for Jesus. Man had grown deaf to the music of God's voice, +blind to the beauty of His face, slow-hearted to the pleading of His +presence. His hand was touching us but we didn't feel it. So He came in +a new way, in a very homely close-up way and walked down our street into +our own doors that we might be caught by the beauty of His face, and +thrilled by the music of His voice, and thralled by the spell of His +presence. + + + +God at His Best. + + +John goes on: _and this wondrous One was with God_. There were two of +them. And the two were together. They were companions, they were +friends, fellows together. _And this One was God_. Each was the same as +the other. _This is the same One who was in the later creative beginning +with God. It was through this One that all things were made. And, of all +things that have been made, not any thing was made without Him_. + +You remember that John's Gospel and Genesis begin in the same way,--"in +the beginning." But John's "in the beginning," the first one, is not the +same as the Genesis "in the beginning." John's is the beginning before +there was any beginning. It is the beginning before they had begun +making calendars on the earth, because there wasn't any earth yet to +make calendars on. Then this second time the phrase is used John comes +to the later creative beginning with which Genesis opens. This is what +John is saying here. + +"_In Him was life_." Out of Him came life. Out of Him comes life. There +was no life, there is none, except what was in this One, and what came, +and comes out from Him all the time. How patient God is! There walks a +man down the street. He leaves God out of his life. He may remember Him +so far as to use His name blasphemously to punctuate and emphasize what +he is saying. Yonder walks a woman in the shadow of the street at night. +And her whole life is spent walking in the dark shadow of the street of +life. And her whole life is a blasphemy against her personality, and +against the God who gave her that precious sacred personality. + +Take these two as extreme illustrations. There is life there; life of +the body, of the mind, life of the human spirit. Listen softly, all the +life there is there, is coming out all the time from this One of whom +John is talking. It is not given once as a thing to be taken and stored. +It is _being_ given. It is coming constantly with each breath, from this +wondrous One. This is what John is saying here. + +How _patient_ God is! Only we don't know what patience is. We know the +word, the label put on the outside. We don't know the thing, except +sometimes in very smallest part. For patience is love at its best. +Patience is God at His strongest and tenderest and best. + +I think likely when we get up yonder, we'll stop one another on the +golden streets. There'll be a hand put out, gripping the other hard. And +we'll look into each other's eyes with our eyes big. And we'll say with +breaking voices, "How _patient_ God was with us down there on the earth, +down there in London and New York." + +In Him was life. Out of His hand and heart is coming to us all the time +all we are and all we have. We may leave God practically out. So many of +us do. But He never leaves us out. The creating, sustaining touch of His +Hand is ever upon each of us, upon all the world. + +Though He cannot do all for us He would except as we gladly come and let +Him. What He is giving us is so _much_. It's our _all_. Yet it is the +smaller part. There's the fuller part. This is the whole drive of John's +story, this fuller part. Out of Him Jesus, into us will come the newer, +the better, the abundant quality of life, if He may have His way. + +And John adds,--"_and the life was the light of men."_ He was what we +_have_. He gives Himself; not things, but a person. With God everything +is _personal_. We men go to the impersonal so much, or we try to. We do +our best at it. We have a great genius for organization, especially in +this western half of the earth. + +As I came back from a four years' absence from my own country, I was +instantly conscious of a change. Either my ears were changed or things +about me were. I think likely both. But the wheels were going faster +than ever. There were more wheels, and their whir seemed never out of +ear-shot. Commercial wheels, and educational, philanthropic and +religious, political and humanitarian, thicker and faster than ever, +driving all day, and with almost no night there. + +And the whole attempt is to make the machine do the thing with as little +dependence as possible on the human element, even though the human +element was never emphasized more. Contradictory? Yet there it is. We +men go to the _im_personal. Yet deep down in our hearts we hunger for +the human touch, the warm personal touch. This after all is _the_ thing. +We all feel that. Yet the whole crowding of life's action is to crowd it +out. + +But with God everything is personal. The life is the light of men. What +He is in Himself--that is what He gives. And this is all the light and +life we ever have. Men make botany. God makes flowers breathing their +freshening fragrance noiselessly up into your face. Man makes astronomy. +God makes the stars, shaking their firelight out of the blue down into +your wondering eyes on a clear moonless night. Man makes theology. And +theology has its place, when it's kept in its place. _God gives us +Jesus_. + +I don't know much about botany. My knowledge of astronomy is very +limited. And the more I read of theology, whether Western or Eastern, +Latin Church or Greek, the first Seven Councils or the later ones, the +more I stand perplexed. It's a thing fearsomely and wonderfully +manufactured, this theology. But I frankly confess to a great fondness +for flowers, and for stars, and a love for Jesus that deepens ever more +in reverential awe and in tenderness and grateful devotion. The life was +the light of men. He Himself is all that we have. We go to _things_. We +reckon worth and wealth by things. He gives _Himself_. And He asks, not +_things_, but one's self. + + + +Packing Most in Least. + + +And John goes quietly on with his great simple story: "_and the light +shineth in the darkness_," John has a way of packing much in little. +Here he packs four thousand years into three English letters. For he has +been back in that creative Genesis week. And now with one long stride he +puts his foot down in the days when Jesus walks among us as a man. Forty +centuries, by the common reckoning, packed into three letters e-t-h. +Rather a skilful bit of packing that. Yet it is not unusual. It is +characteristic both of John and of the One that guides John's pen. When +He is allowed to have free sway the Holy Spirit packs much in little. + +That rugged old Hebrew prophet of fire and storm, Elijah, standing in +the grey dawn, in the mouth of an Arabian cave, had the whole of a new +God--a God of tender gentle love--packed into an exquisite sound of +gentle stillness, that smote so subtly on his ear, and completely melted +and changed this man of rock and thunder. It's a new man that turns his +face north again. The new God that had compacted Himself anew inside the +ruggedly faithful old man is revealed in the prophet's successor. This +is the new spirit, so unlike the old Elijah, that comes as a birth-right +heritage upon young Elisha. Great packing work that. + +That fine-grained young university fellow on the Damascus road, driving +hard in pursuit of his earnest purpose, had the whole of a God, a new +God to him, packed into a single flash of blinding light out of the +upper blue. He had the whole of a new plan, an utterly changed plan for +his life, packed into a single sentence spoken into his amazed ears as +he lies in the dust. + +And if this Holy Spirit may have His way--a big if? Yes: yet not too big +to be gotten rid of at once: God puts in the if's, that we may get the +strength of choosing. We put them out, _if_ we do. _If_ He may have His +way He'll pack--listen quietly, with your heart--He'll pack _the whole +of a Jesus_ inside you and me. Much in little! Most in least! And the +more we let Him in, the bigger that "most" prints itself to our eyes, +and the more that "least" dwindles down to the disappearing point. + +God gives us His own self in Jesus. Jesus comes to live inside of us. He +doesn't give us things, but Himself. We talk about salvation. There's +something better--_a Saviour_. We talk about help in trouble. There's +something immensely more--_a Friend_, alongside, close up. We talk about +healing--sometimes, not so much these days; the subject is so much +confused. There's something much better--a _Healer_, living within, +whose presence means healing and health for body and spirit. + +Then John says, "the light shineth _in the darkness_." This is God's way +of treating darkness. There are two ways of treating darkness, man's and +God's. Man's way is to attack the darkness. Suppose this hall where we +are were quite dark, all shuttered up, and suppose we were new on the +earth, and not familiar with darkness. We want to hold a meeting. But +how shall we get rid of this strange darkness that has come down over +everything? Let's each of us get a bucket or pail or basin, and take +some of the darkness out. So we'll get rid of it, and its inconvenience. + +And if the suggestion were made seriously there might be talk of putting +the suggestor in a certain sort of institution for the safety of the +community. Yet this is the way we go at the other darkness, the worse +moral darkness. + +_God's way_ is quite different; indeed just the exact reverse _let the +light shine._ The darkness can't stand the light. If the hall _were_ +quite dark, and I scratched only a parlour-match, instantly as the +little flame broke out of the end of the stick some of the darkness +would go. It's surprising how much would go, and how quickly. The +darkness can't stand the light. It flees like a hunted hare before a +pack of hounds. + +There may be times when action must betaken by a community against +certain forms of evil, so damnable, and so strongly entrenched, and so +threatening to the purity of home and young and of all. But note keenly +that this is _incidental_. It is immensely important at times, but it is +distinctly _secondary._ The great simple plan of God is this: _let the +light shine_. The darkness flees like a whipped cur, tail tightly curled +down and in, before the real thing of light. + +Let me ask you a question. Come up a bit closer and listen quietly, for +this is tremendously serious. And it's the quietest spoken word that +reaches the inner cockles of the heart. Listen: is it a bit dark down +where you live? Morally dark? Spiritually? How about that? in commercial +circles and social and fraternal, in church and home and city and +neighbourhood. Is it a bit dark? Or, have I found the Garden of Eden at +last before the serpent entered? + +Because if it be a bit dark, softly, please, let me say it very quietly, +for it may sound critical, and I would not have that for anything. We +are talking only to help. Though sometimes the truth itself does have a +merciless edge. If it be a bit dark does it not suggest that _the light +has not been shining as it was meant to_? For where the light shines the +darkness goes. + +For, you see, this is still God's plan for treating darkness. It is +meant to be true to-day of each of us,--"_the light shineth in the +darkness_." Of course, _we_ are not the light. He is the Light. But we +are the light-holders. I carry the Light of the world around inside of +me. And so do you, _if you do_. It is not because of the "me," of +course, but because of the great patience and faithfulness of Him who is +the Light. A very rickety cheap lantern may carry a clear light, and the +man in the ditch find good footing in the road again. + +You and I are meant to be the human lanterns carrying the Light, and +letting it shine clearly fully out. And you know when some one else is +providing the light the chief thing about the lantern is that the glass +of the lantern be kept dean and clear so the light within can get freely +out. The great thing is that _we shall live clean transparent lives_ so +the Light within may shine clearly out. We may live unselfish clean +Christly lives, by His great grace. And through that kind of lives, the +Light itself shines out, and shines out most, and most clearly. + +Over at the mouth of the Hudson, where I call it home, there are some +strange things seen. Sometimes the glass of this human lantern gets +smoky, badly smoked. And sometimes it even gets cobwebby, rather thickly +covered up. And even this has been known to happen up there,--it'll seem +very strange to you people doubtless--_this_; they write finely phrased +essays on the delicate shading of grey in the smoke on the glass of the +human lantern. + +They meet together and listen to essays, in rarely polished English, on +the exquisite lace-like tracery of the cobwebs on the glass of the human +lantern. But look! Hold your heart still and look! There's the crowd in +the road in the dark, struggling, jostling, stumbling, and falling into +the ditch at the side of the road, ditched and badly mired, because the +light hasn't gotten to them. The Light's there. It's burning itself out +in passionate eagerness to help. But the human lanterns are in bad +shape. + +"Rhetoric!" do you say? I wish it were. I wish with my heart it were. +Look at the crowds for yourself. There they go down the street, +pell-mell, bewildered, blinded, some of them by will-o'-the-wisp lights, +ditched and mired many of them. The thing is only too terribly true. + +Our Lord's great plan, bearing the stamp of its divinity in its sheer +human simplicity, is this: we who know Jesus are to _live Him_. We're to +let _the whole of a Jesus_, crucified, risen, living, shine out of _the +whole of our lives_. + +Is it a bit dark down where you are? _Let the Light shine_. Let the +clear sweet steady Jesus-light shine out through your true clean quiet +Jesus-swayed and Jesus-controlled life. Then the darkness must go. It +can't stand the Light. It can't withstand the purity and insistence of +its clear steady shining. And the darkness _will_ go: slowly, +reluctantly, angrily, doggedly, making hideous growling noises +sometimes, raising the dust sometimes, but it will go. It must go before +the Light. The Light's resistless. This is our Lord's wondrous plan +_through_ His own, and His irresistible plan _for_ the crowd, and His +plan against the prince of darkness. + + + +The Heart-road to the Head. + + +Then John goes on to say, "_the darkness apprehended it not_." The old +common version says "comprehended"; the revisions, both English and +American, say "apprehended." Both are rather large words, larger in +English than John would use. John loved to use simple talk. Yet there's +help even in these English words. Comprehend is a mental word. It means +to take hold of with your mind; to understand. Apprehend is a physical +word. It means to take hold of with your hand. + +You can't _comprehend_ Jesus. That is just the simple plain fact. You +may have a fine mind. It may be well schooled and trained. You may have +dug into all the books on the subject, English and German and the few +French. You may have spent a lifetime at it. But at the end there is +immensely more of Jesus that you don't understand than the part that you +do understand. You've touched the smaller part only, just the edges. You +cannot take Jesus in with your mind simply. The one is too big and the +other too limited for that particular process. + +But, listen with your heart, you can _apprehend_ Him. You can _take +hold_ of Him. There isn't one of us here, however poorly equipped +mentally and in training, and too busy with life's common duties to get +much time for reading, not one of us, who may not reach out your hand, +the hand of your heart, the hand of your life, the hand of your simple +childlike trust--if you're great enough in simplicity to be childlike, +to be natural, not one of us, but may reach out the hand and _take in +all there is of Jesus_. + +And the striking thing to mark is this, that we don't really begin to +comprehend until we apprehend. Only as we take Him into heart and life +_can_ we really understand. It's as if the heat in the heart made by His +presence there loosens up the grey juices of your brain, and it begins +to work freely and clearly. + +Of course, this is a commonplace in the educational world. It is well +understood there that no student does his best work, no matter what +that work may be, in science or philosophy or in mathematics or in +laboratorial research, his mind cannot do its best, or be at its best, +until his heart has been kindled by some noble passion. The key to the +life is in the heart, that is the emotions and purposes tied together. +The approach to the mind is through the heart. The fire of pure emotion +and of noble purpose burning together, works out _through_ the mind +_into_ the life. This is nature's order. + +But what John is saying here, put into as simple language as he would +use, is this: "_the darkness wouldn't let the light in, and couldn't +shut it out, and couldn't dull the brightness of its shining_." It +tried. It tried first at Bethlehem. The first spilling of blood came +there. There was the shedding of blood at both ends of Jesus' career, +and innocent blood each time. It tried at the Nazareth precipice, and in +the spirit-racking wilderness. It tried by stones, then in Gethsemane, +then at Calvary. + +And there it seemed to have succeeded. At last the light was shut in and +down; the door was shut and barred and bolted. And I suppose there was +great glee in the headquarters of darkness. But the Third Morning came. +And the bars of darkness were broken, as a woman breaks the +sewing-cotton at the end of the seam. The Light could not be held down +by darkness. It broke out more brightly than ever. The darkness couldn't +shut the light out. And it can't. + +_Let the light shine._ Let it shine out through the clear clean glass +of an unselfish, Jesus-cleansed Jesus-fired life lived for Him in the +commonplace round, and the shut-away corner. _And the darkness will go_. +The darkness cannot shut out the light, nor keep it down, nor resist the +gentle resistless power of its soft clear flooding. Let the Light shine +down in that corner where you are. And the darkness, darkness that can +be felt, and _is_ felt so sorely deep down in your spirit, in its +uncanny Egyptian blackness, that darkness will break, and more, clear, +and go, go, go, till it's clear gone. + +And so ends John's first great paragraph. It is so tremendous in its +simplicity that, Greek-like, men stumble over its simple tremendousness. +Away back in the beginning God revealed Himself in making a home for +man, and in bringing the man, made in His own image, to his home. And +then when the damp unwholesome darkness came stealing in swamping the +home and man He came Himself, flooding in the soft clear pure light of +His presence, to free man from the darkness and woo him out into the +light. + + + +Tarshish or Nineveh? + + +Then John goes on into his second paragraph. "_There came a man, sent +from God, whose name was John_." Why? Because man was in the dark. He +sent a man to help a man. He used a man to reach a man. He always does. +Run clear through this old Book of God, and then clear through that +other Book of God--the book of life, and note that this is God's habit. +He, Himself, uses the path He had made for human feet. With greatest +reverence let it be said that God _must_ use a human pathway for His +feet. + +Even when He would redeem a world He came, He must needs come, as a Man, +one of ourselves. He touches men through men. The pathway of His helping +feet is always a common human pathway. And, will you mark keenly that +_the highest level any life ever reaches_, or _can_ reach, is this: _to +be a pathway for the feet of a wooing winning God_. + +And this is still true. It is meant to be true to-day that there came a +man, sent from God, whose name is--_your name_. You put in your own name +in that sentence, then you get God's plan for you. For as surely as this +particular John of the desert and of the plain living, and the burning +speech, was sent by God, so surely is every man of us a man sent by God +on some particular errand. And the greatest achievement of life is to +find and fit into the plan of God for one's life. This is the only great +thing one can do. Anything else is merely _labelled_ "great." And that +label washes off. This is the one thing worth while. + +The bother is we don't always get the verbs, the action words, of that +sentence straight. John was a man _sent_ from God. And he _came_. All +men are sent But they don't all come, some _go_; go their own way. There +was a man sent from God whose name was Jonah. But he didn't come. He +went. He was sent to Nineveh on the extreme east. He went towards +Tarshish on the extreme west; just the opposite direction. Every man is +headed either for Nineveh or Tarshish, God's way or his own. Which way +are you headed? + +Some of us go to Tarshish _religiously_. We go our own way, and sing +hymns and pray, to make it seem right and keep from hearing the inner +voice. We hold meetings at the boat-wharf, while waiting for the +Tarshish ship to lift anchor. We have services in the steerage and +second-class and distribute tracts and New Testaments; but all the time +we're headed for Tarshish; our way, not God's. It won't do simply to do +good. We must do God's will. Find that and fit into it. + +The meetings and tracts are only good but they ought to be on the train +to Nineveh, and in Nineveh where God's sent you. Are you berthed on the +boat for Tarshish? or have you a seat engaged on the train for Nineveh? +going your own way? or God's? John was _sent_ and he _came_. You and I +are sent. Are we coming or going? coming God's way? or, going our own? + + + +Living Martyrs. + + +This true-hearted burning man of the deserts _came for a witness_. Here +we strike one of John's great words. You remember the three things that +_witness_ means? that you know something; that you tell what you know; +and that you tell it most with your life. And telling it _with your +life_ means, not only by the way you live, but, too, even though the +telling of it _may cost you your life_. It came to mean all of that with +this witness. + +It came to mean that with a new fullness of meaning, a peculiar +significance, to _the great Witness_, of whom John told. This was the +very throbbing heart of the wooing errand. This explains the tenderness +and tenacity of the Lover in His wooing in the midst of intensest +opposition, and in spite of it. + +The opposition brought about the terrific grouping of circumstances +which the great Lover-witness used as the tremendous climax of both +wooing and witnessing. No one doubts the reality of Jesus' witness to +the Father's love before men. And no one, who has had any touch at all +with Him, doubts the tremendous pull upon one's heart of such a wooing +appeal as that Calvary climax of witnessing made, and makes. + +And this, mark it keenly, is still the plan. "The-same-came-for-witness" +is meant to be true of each follower of the Christ. This is to be the +dominant underchording of all our lives. This is to be the never-absent +motive gripping us, and our possessions and our plans. The rest is +incidental in a true life. + +It may be a "rest" that takes most of the waking hours with most of us, +most of our strength and thought. But there's an undercurrent in every +life. And the undercurrent is the controlling current. It makes us what +we really are. It may be quite different from the upper current +controlled by the outer necessities of circumstances. And with the true +Jesus-man _this_ is the undercurrent, this thing of witnessing. + +Do you know something of Jesus? Do you know the cleansing of His blood? +Do you know the music of His peace in your heart? Do you know a bit of +the subtle fragrance of His presence? Do you know the power of His Name +when temptations come, when the road gets slippery, and your feet go out +from under you--almost. Then His Name, its power, and you hold steady. +Do you know something about such things? + +Then _tell_ it. This is the plan--_telling_. It's a Gospel of _telling_. +Tell it with your lips tactfully, gently, boldly, earnestly. But tell it +far more, and most with your life. Let what you are, when you're not +thinking about this sort of thing, let that tell it. That's the greatest +telling, the best. + +And, softly, now, when you get to the end of telling what you know, +listen quietly, don't go to digging into books for something to tell +your class or the meeting or the crowd. Don't do that. Books have their +place, good books, but it's always a sharply secondary place, or third, +or lower down yet. Poor crowd that must be fed on retailed books worked +over! Don't do that. _Know more._ Know Jesus better. Trust Him more +fully. Risk more on following where He clearly leads. Then you can tell +more and better. + +Sometimes I'm asked, "How can I have more faith?" Well, not by thinking +about your faith. Not by books or definitions chiefly, however they may +help some. I can tell you how: _Follow where the Master's quiet voice is +clearly calling._ Go where it is plain to you that that pierced hand is +leading. + +"Ah! but the way is a bit narrow," you think. "And it's steep. There are +sharp-edged stones under foot. And those bushes are growing rank on both +sides narrowing the path. And thorns scratch and hurt and sting. This +other road where I am now--this is a good Christian road. My Christian +brothers are here. I'd rather stay here." + +And so you _stay_. You don't _say_ "no" to the calling voice. You simply +_act_ "no." No wonder you get confused and tangled. It's only in the +path of following clear leading that there comes sweetest peace, with no +nagging doubts and mental confusion. There only will you have more +faith, know more of Him, touch with whom is the realest faith. And so +only will the witness be told out to the crowd on the street of your +life, of the power and satisfying peace of this Jesus. + +This is the witnessing we're sent to do. And the crowds crowd to listen, +when it's given. This is the way _the_ Witness did. He followed the +clear Father-voice, though the road led straight across the regular +roads through thorn hedges and thick underbrush. Should not the servant +tread it still? + +The word that John uses here underneath our English word _witness_ is +the word from which our English word _martyr_ comes. And martyr has +come to mean one who gives his life clear out in a violent way for the +truth he believes. But, do you know, that is easy. "Easy?" You say, +"Surely not, you're certainly wrong there." No, you are right. It is not +easy. To face a storm of lead, or feel the sharp-edged blade, or yield +to the eating flame,--that is never easy. + +But this is what I mean. There's the heroic in it, and that helps. You +brace yourself for it. The terrible crisis comes. You pull together and +pray and resolutely, desperately, face it. A little while, and it's +over. You've been true in the sharp crisis. You have taken a place with +the noble army of martyrs. And we who hear of it have a martyr's halo +about your head. + +But there's something immensely harder to do. Without making a whit less +than it is the splendid courage of martyrdom, there's something that +takes immensely more courage, and a deeper longer-seasoned heroism, and +that is to be a _living_ martyr, to bear the simple true witness +tactfully but clearly, when it takes the very life of your life to do +it, though it doesn't take your bodily life in a violent way. + +You know they don't martyr people these days for their Christian faith. +At least not in the western half of the earth, the Christian hemisphere. +No, that's quite behind the calendar. That's rather crude, quite behind +the cultured advanced Christian progress of _our_ day. Our Christian +civilization has gone long strides beyond that. We have grown much more +refined. Now we kill them _socially_. Many a one who would live true to +the Jesus-ideals in daily life in a simple sane way finds certain social +doors shut and carefully barred. + +We kill them _commercially_ now. The man who will quietly hew to the +Jesus-line in business is quite apt to find his income reduced. The bulk +of business shrinks. The thermometer is run down below the living point. +We kill men by _frost_ now. The blockade system is skilfully used; +isolation and insulation from certain circles. We are much more refined. + +The great need to-day is of _living_ witnesses to the Christ in home, +and social circle, in the street, and in the market-place. + + "So he died for his faith; that is fine, + More than the most of us do. + But stay, can yon add to that line + That he _lived_ for it, too? + + "It's easy to die. Men have died + For a wish or a whim-- + From bravado or passion or pride. + Was it hard for him? + + "But to live: every day to live out + All the truth that he dreamt, + While his friends met his conduct with doubt, + And the world with contempt. + + "Was it thus that he plodded ahead, + Never turning aside? + Then we'll talk of the life that he led" + Even more than the death that he died. + + + +The Forgotten Preacher. + + +With a simplicity in sticking to his main point, John goes quietly on: +"_that he might be a witness of the light_." That's rather interesting. +It was of the _light_ he was to bear witness; not of himself. It was not +the technical accuracy of his work, not its scholarliness and skill that +absorbed him, but that the _crowd got the light_. Rather striking that, +when you break away from the atmosphere round about, and think into it a +bit. + +Here's a man walking down a country road. It's a hot day. The road's +dusty. He gets a bit weary and thirsty. He comes across a bit of a +spring by the side of the road. Clear cool water it is. And some one has +thoughtfully left a tin-cup on a ledge of rock near by. And the man +gratefully drinks and goes on his way refreshed. He quite forgets the +tin-cup. + +Sometimes the tin-cup seems to require much attention, up in the corner +of the world where my tent is pitched. It has to be handled very +carefully and considerately if one is to get what possible drops of +water it may contain. The human tin-cup seems to bulk very big in the +drinking process, sometimes, in my corner of the planet. It is +silver-plated sometimes; just common tin under the plating. There's some +fine engraving on the silver-plating, noble sentiment, deftly expressed, +and done in the engraver's best style. But the water is apt to be +scanty, the drops rather few, in this sort of tin-cup. It's a bit +droughty. + +And sometimes even this has been known to occur: they have associations +of these human tin-cups for self-admiration and other cultural purposes. +And they have highly satisfactory meetings. But meanwhile, ah! look! +hold still your heart, and look here. There's the crowd on the street, +hot dusty street, exhausted, actually fainting for want of water, just +good plain water of life. But there's none to be had; only tin-cups! +John was eager to have men get a good drink. He was content as he +watched them drink, and their eyes lighten. He was discontent and +restless with anything else or less. + +Do you remember the greatest compliment ever paid John, John the Herald? +John was a great preacher. He had great drawing power. To-day we +commonly go where people are hoping they'll stay while we talk to them. +But John did otherwise. He went down to the Jordan bottoms, where the +spirit ventilation was better, and called the people to him. And they +came. They came from all over the nation, of every class. Literally +thousands gathered to hear John. He had great drawing power. + +And then something happened. Here is John to-day talking earnestly to +great crowds down by the river-road. And here he is again to-morrow; but +where are the crowds? John has lost his crowd. Same pulpit out in the +open air, same preacher, same simple intense message burning in his +heart, but--no congregation! The crowd's gone. Poor John! You must feel +pretty bad. It's hard enough to fail, but how much harder after +succeeding. Poor John, I'm so sorry for you. + +But if you get close enough to John to see into his eye you quit talking +like that. And if you get near enough to hear you find your sympathy is +not needed. For John's eye is ablaze with a tender light, and the sound +of an inner heart music reaches your ear as you get near him. And if you +follow, as you instinctively do, the line of the light in his eye you +quickly look down the road. + +Oh! There's John's crowd. _They're listening to Jesus._John's crowd has +left him for his Master. And the forgotten preacher is the finest +evidence of the faithfulness of the preacher. The crowd's getting the +water, sweet cool refreshing water of life, direct from the fountain. +They've clean forgotten the faithful common tin-cup. And John's so glad. +John came that he might bear witness of _the light_. And he did. And the +crowd heard. And they flocked to the light. + +Here's a man preaching. And the people are listening. The benediction is +pronounced. And they go out. And as they move slowly out they're +talking, always talking. We don't seem yet to have demitted our +privilege of talking after service. Here are two. Listen to them. "Isn't +he a great preacher? so scholarly, so eloquent, so polished; and all +those classical allusions. I didn't understand half he said; he +certainly is a great preacher. We're very fortunate in such a man." + +And the preacher, whoever he be, may know this for a bit of the +certainty that occasionally _will_ sift in. He may be a scholar. I +wouldn't question it. And a polished orator. I wouldn't question that. +But in the main thing, the one thing he's for, as a _Jesus-witness_, he +is a splendid scholarly polished failure. Men are talking about _him_. + +They've forgotten his Master, if indeed--ah, yes, if indeed he _have_ a +Master! He has a _Saviour_, let us earnestly hope, and willingly +believe. But a _Master_! One that sweeps and sways his mind and culture +and life like the strong wind sweeps the thin young saplings in the +storm--clearly he knows nothing of that. Men are talking of _him_. + +And here's another talking a bit It may be just a simple homely talk. Or +he may likewise be scholarly and eloquent. A man should bring his best. +The old classic is beaten oil for the lamps of the sanctuary. But +there's the soft burning fire of the real thing in his message. And the +people feel it. The air seems a-thrill with its quiet tensity. And the +last amen is said. And again they go out. + +And here are two walking down the road together, and as they come to the +cross-street, one says to his companion, "Excuse me, please, I have to +go down _this_ way." And the "have-to" is the have-to of an intense +desire to get off alone. And as he goes down the side street he's +talking, but--to himself. Listen to him: "I'm not the man I ought to be, +I wonder if Jesus is really like he said. I wonder if the thing's really +so. I believe--yes, I really think I'll risk it. My life isn't like it +should be. I'll risk trying this Jesus-way. I'll do it." + +The man's clean forgotten the speaker. Oh, yes, he remembers the tone of +the voice, and the look of the face, but indistinctly, far away. He's +face-to-face with Jesus! And the forgotten speaker is the finest +evidence of the faithfulness of his speaking. He is holding up the +light. And men run into the light. They've clean forgot the little tin +candlestick, they are so taken up with the light it holds. + + + +The One Thing to Aim At. + + +And John keeps driving in on the point in his mind: "_that all might +believe through Him_"; that they might listen, stop to think, agree as +to the thing being believable, then trust it; then trust _Him_, the +Light, risk something, risk, _themselves_ to _Him_, then love, love with +a passionate devotion. This was John's objective. It was the bull's-eye +of his target never out of his keen Spirit-opened eye. Nothing else +figured in. + +This is _the_ thing in all our living and serving and doing and giving, +_that men may know Jesus_ to the trusting, risking, loving point, the +glad point. Everything that we can bring of gold and learning and labour +and skill is precious, it is as purest gold, _if_ it lead men into +heart-touch with Jesus. And it clean misses the mark if it does less. + +Who would be content to give a Belgian or Polish starveling a bare bit +of bread, and a lonely stick of wood, and a rag of cloth. Bite and stick +and cloth are good, but it's a _meal_ and a _fire_, and some _clothing_, +the man wants. And you have both ready at hand. _Things_ are good, +provided by money and skill and research and painstaking efforts. They +_do_ good. But it's Jesus men need. It's the warm touch that lets _Him_ +fully in with all of His human sympathy and all of His God-power, that's +what they need. + +Given the sun and quickly come warmth and food and shelter, health and +vigour and increase of life. Given Jesus, and the warm touch with Him, +in His simple fullness, just as He is, and surely and not slowly, there +come flooding in all the rest of an abundant life, physical and mental +and of the spirit. + +John "_was not the light_." He was only the candlestick. And he was +content to be that. He was a good candlestick. The light was held up. It +could shine out. How grateful the crowd was. The road had been so dark. +It is a bad thing when light and candlestick change places. The crowd +seems to get the two confused sometimes. We get to thinking that the +candlestick is the light, and the light is--lost sight of. We gather +about the candlestick. It'll surely lead the way out through the dark +night into day. It's such a good candlestick, so highly polished. And +sometimes the human candlestick itself gets things a bit mixed. It +thinks, then it feels, then it knows, with a peculiar quality of +self-assertive certainty, that after all _it_ is the light that +lighteth every one that is so blessed as to come within the radius of +its shining. And brass does take a high polish, and makes an attractive +appearance. It does send out a sparkle and radiance _if_ only it is +somewhere within range of some real light, patient enough to keep on +shining in the dark, regardless of non-appreciation or misrepresentation +or misunderstanding. + +Is it any wonder the road is so full of people wandering in the night +gathered about candlesticks? Is it surprising that the ditches are so +full of men and candlesticks mixed up and mired up together? Yet it is +always heart-breaking. There may be talent and training of the highest +and best, and scholarship and culture, eloquence and skill, institutions +and philanthropies. And there is so much of these. And these are good in +themselves, and of priceless practical worth when seen and held in their +right relation to _the_ thing. + +But it needs to be said often and earnestly: _these are not the light_. +They are given to point men better to the Light. They're road-signs, +index-fingers. And they are seen at their best when they point to the +Light so clearly that the crowd quite forgets them in hastening to the +Light they point out. They serve their true purpose in being so +forgotten. They are still serving and serving best even while forgotten. + + + +The Real Thing of Light. + + +And John goes on to intensify yet more what he is thinking and saying: +_there was the true light_, _the real thing of light_. They were +bothered, in John's old age when he is writing, with false lights, +make-pretend lights, that led people astray. Every generation seems to +have been so bothered and confused. And even our own doesn't seem to +have entirely escaped the subtle contagion. The ground is a bit swampy +in places, boggy. + +Low-lying land runs to bog and swamp. And the air gets thick with heavy +vapours. And strange will-of-the-wisp lights form out of the foul damp +gasses, and they flit about in the gloom this way and that. And people +are led astray by them deeper into swamp and bog. It's surprising to +find how many, that grow up in well-lit neighbourhoods, wander off after +the swamp lights, and even follow them so contentedly. That's partly +due, without doubt, to the false lights borrowing so much of the mere +outer incidentals from the true. And they succeed in producing a make-up +that easily deceives the unwary and untaught. + +There's a teaching to-day, for instance, that magnifies bodily healing. +The name of Christ is freely used. And the old Book of God freely +quoted. And men are really healed. There can be no question of that. +There are sufficient facts at hand to make that incontestably clear. + +But bodily healing does not necessarily argue divine power. There are +results secured through the operation of unfamiliar mental powers that +seem miraculous. And clearly there are devilish miracles as well as +divine. Miracles simply reveal a supernatural power, that is, a power +above the ordinary workings of nature. Then one must apply a touchstone, +a test, to learn what that power is. + +It is striking that in this teaching I speak of now there is never +mention of the atoning blood of Christ. And this is the sure touchstone +by which to detect the real thing of light and the make-believe. The +outstanding thing in the life of Christ is His death, and the tremendous +meaning which His own teaching put into that fact of His death. + +There is none of the red tinge to this make-believe light. It has the +unwholesome unnatural tingeing of swamp lights. And those who are healed +through this teaching will find themselves in a bondage the more +terrible because so subtle. And only the power of the blood of Christ +can ever break that bondage. + +There was the real thing of light. Here _is_ the real thing of light. +There's a distinct tingeing of red in it. It's the only light. It only +is the light. Every other is a make-pretend light, however subtle its +imitations and reflections: it will lead only into swamp and bog and +ditch and worse. + +And then John goes on to add a very simple bit that has not always been +quite understood in its simplicity. There was the real thing of light +_that lighteth every man that cometh into the world_. There is a little +group of varied readings into the English here, found in the margin of +the various revisions. But the central statement remains the same. +Whether John is saying that the light, that lighteth every man, was now +coming down into the world in a closer way. Or, that every man is +lighted as _he_ comes into the world, the chief thing being told is the +same. Every man in the world is lighted by this Light. + +Through nature, the nightly twinklers in the wondrous blue overhead, the +unfailing freshness of the green out of the brown under foot; through +the never-ceasing wonders of these bodies of ours, so awesomely and +skilfully made, and kept going; through that clear quiet inner voice +that does speak in every human heart amidst all the noises of earth and +of passion; through these the light _is_ shining, noiselessly, softly, +endlessly, by day and night. + +It is the same identical light that John is telling us of here that so +shines in upon every man, and always has. There is no light but His. His +later name is Jesus. From the first, and everywhere still, it is the +light that shines from Him that lights men. He was with the Father in +the beginning. He acted for the Father in that creation week. He gave +and sustained all life of every sort everywhere, and does, though only a +third of us know His later, nearer, newer Name--Jesus. + +But the light was obscured, terribly beclouded and bedimmed, hindered by +earth-fogs, and swampy clouds rising up, until we are apt to think there +was no light, and is none; only darkness. Then He came closer, and yet +closer. He came in nearer form so as to get the light closer, and let +it shine _through_ fog and cloud, for the sake of the befogged, +beswamped crowd. + +And then--ah! hold your heart still--_then_ He let _the_ Light-holder, +the great human Lantern, be _broken_, utterly broken, that so the light +might flash out through broken lantern in its sweet soft wondrous +clearness into our blinded blinking eyes, and show us the real way back +home. It was in that breaking that it got that wondrous exquisite red +tingeing that becomes the unfailing hall-mark, the unmistakable evidence +of the real thing of light. + +And it's only as men know of this latest coming of the light, this +tremendous tragic Jesus-coming of the light, that they can come into the +full light. That's the reason He came in the way He did. That's the +reason when He gets possession of us there's the passion to take the +full Jesus-light out to every one. And this passion burns in us and +through us, and ours, and sweeps all in the sweep of its tender holy +flame. In this way every man may be fully lit, and so in following the +Jesus-light he shall not walk in the darkness where he has been, but in +the sweet clear light of life. + + + +Looking for Recognition. + + +Then we come to the first of John's heart-breaking sentences. John had a +hard time writing his Gospel. He was not simply writing a book. That +might have been fairly easy for him with his personal knowledge and all +the facts so familiar. But he is telling about his dearest Friend. And +the telling makes his heart throb harder, and his eyes fill up, and the +writing look dim to him, as he tries to put the words down. + +Listen: _He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and +the world recognized, or rather acknowledged, Him not._ It was His +world, His child, His creation. He had made it. But it failed to +acknowledge Him. He came walking down the street of life. He met the +world going the other way. And He gave it a warm good-morning greeting. +And it knew Him full well. It knew who He was. But it turned its face +aside and walked by with no return greeting. This is what John is +saying. It recognized, it acknowledged Him not. + +You mothers know the glad hour that comes in a mother's life when her +little babe of the wee weeks knows her _for the first time._ She's busy +bathing or nursing, or, she's just hovering over the precious morsel of +humanity when there's really nothing needing to be done. And the babe's +eyes catch her own and _a smile comes,_ the first smile of recognition. +And the mother-heart gives a glad leap. She murmurs to herself, "Oh, +baby knows me!" + +And when the father comes home that night she greets him with, "Baby +knew me to-day." And there's a soft bell-like tender ring in her voice +that vibrates on the strings of his heart. And all the folks within +range are advised of the day's event. And the mother clear forgets all +the sharp-cutting pain back there just a little before, in this joy, +this look of recognition. + +I knew of a woman. She was of an old family, of unusual native gift, and +rare accomplishment. And her babe came. And the time came when +ordinarily there would be that first sweet look of recognition, but--_it +didn't come._ There was a defect; something not as it should be. And you +mothers all know how she felt, yes, and you true fathers, too. She was +heart-broken. And she turned aside from all the busy round of activity +in which she had been the natural leader. And for years she devoted all +her splendid talents, her strength and time, to just one thing, a very +simple thing; only this,--_getting a look of glad recognition out of two +babe-eyes._ + +_He_ looked into the face of His child, His world, for the look of +recognition. But there was none. And He was heart-broken. And He devoted +all His strength and time, Himself, for those human years to--what? One +thing, just one thing, a very simple thing, only this: to getting a look +of recognition out of the eyes of His child. + +Aye, there's more yet here. He _looks_ into our faces, eager for that +simple direct answering look into His face and out of our eyes, yours +and mine. And we give Him--things, church-membership, orthodox belief, +intense activity, aggressive missionary propaganda, money in good +measure, tireless, and then tired-out service--_things!_ And all good +things. But _the_ thing, the direct look into His own face answering His +own hungry searching look, that look in the face that reveals the inner +heart that He _waits_ for so often, and waits, a bit sore at heart. + +For you know the eye is the face of the face. It's the doorway into the +soul, out through which the soul, the man within, looks. I look at you, +the man inside here looks out at you through my eye. And I look at the +real you down through your eye. The real man is hidden away within, but +looks out through the eye and is looked at only through the eye. We +really give ourselves to Jesus in the look direct into His face which +tells Him all, and through which He transforms us. + + + +A Heart-breaking Verse. + + +Then comes John's second heart-breaking verse; but it is just a bit more +heart-breaking in what it says. Listen: _He came to His own home, and +they that were His own kinsfolk received Him not into the house but kept +Him standing out in the cold and storm of the wintry night._ + +One of you men goes home to-night. It's your own home, shaped on your +own personality through the years. It's a bit late. You've had a long +hard day. You're tired. It's stormy. The wind and the rain chill you as +you turn the corner. And you pull your coat a bit snugger as you quicken +your steps and think of home, warmth and comfort, loved ones, and rest +for body and spirit, too. + +As you come to the door you reach for your latch-key, and find, in the +busy rush, you seem to have forgotten it, somehow. So you ring the bell +or knock. And suppose--be patient with me a bit, please. Suppose your +loved ones know you're there. You even see a hand drawing aside the edge +of the window shade, and two eyes that you know so well peer out through +the crack at you; then the shade goes to again. Yes, they know you're +there. But the door, your own door, doesn't open. How would you feel? + +And some one says to himself, "That's not a good illustration. That +thing couldn't happen. It isn't natural." No: you're right. It _isn't_ +natural. It could not happen to _you_. I am sure it could not happen to +_me_. If it could I'd be heart-broken. _But this is what happened to +Him!_ This is what John is saying here. He came to His own front door, +and they whose very image revealed their close kinship to Him, received +Him not into the home, but kept the door fast in His face. + +Then there's a later translation. This old King James version bears the +date of 1611, I think. And the English Revision is dated 1881, I +believe. And this American Standard Revision I am using has 1901 on its +title page. But there's a later revision. It bears a yet later date, +1915, April 27. But it is a shifting date. Each translator fixed his own +date. + +This latest translation runs something like this: He _comes_ to His own. +That's you and myself. We belong to Him. He gave His breath to us in +Eden. He gave His breath to you and me at our birth. He gave His blood +for us on Calvary. We belong to Him. The image of His kinship is stamped +upon us. We may not acknowledge it, but that can't change the fact. + +_He comes to His own, and His own_--and here, as the scholars would say, +there are variant readings. Let me give you one or two I have found. +Here is one: He comes to His own, and His own--puts a chair outside the +door on the top-step. It's a large armchair with a cushion in, perhaps. +And then His own talks about Him through the crack of the door, or +likelier, the window. It's reckoned safer to keep the door fast. + +Listen to what he says: "He's a wonderful man this Jesus; great teacher, +the greatest; the greatest man of the race; His philosophy, His moral +standards are the ideals; wonderful life; great example." They fairly +exhaust the language in talking about this Man. But notice. It seems a +bit queer. The man they're talking _about_ is _outside the door_. His +own claim is left severely outside. + +Some make it read like this: He comes to His own, and they who are His +own open the door a _crack_, maybe a fairly respectably wide crack. We +all like the word _Saviour_. Yes, we cling tenaciously to that. +Selfishly, would you say? We want to be saved from a certain place we +think of as _down_, that we've been taught about, and don't want to go +to--_if it's there;_ the way men talk about it to-day. + +And we want to be saved into another certain place we think of as _up_, +and where we surely want to go _after_ we get through down on the +earth, and _must_ go away somewhere else; with that "after" and "must" +carefully underscored. And we want to be saved from all the +inconveniences possible along the way, and to secure all the advantages +and help available: yes, yes, open the door a crack. + +But be careful about the width of the opened crack. Let it be just the +proper conventionalized width. Let there be no extremeism about the +wideness of that opening. Things must be proper. For what would the +other crack-open-door-owners think? + +And then, too, yet more serious, this Jesus has a way, a most +inconsiderate way of coming in as far as you let Him, and of taking +things into His own hands. Certain people use that word +"inconsiderate"--to themselves, in secret. Jesus changes some things +when He is allowed all the way in. He might change your personal habits, +your home arrangements, some of your social customs and your business +plans. + +Of course He changes only what needs changing, as He sees it. +But--then--you--well, some things can be carried _too far_--to suit +_you_. This Jesus has the _all_ habit. He contracted it when He was down +on the earth. Our needs grew the habit. He _gave_ all. And He has a way +of coming in all the way, and of reaching in His pierced hand and +_taking_ all. + +He might even put His hand in on that most sacred thing, that holiest of +all, that you guard most jealously--that box. It has heavy hinges, and +double padlocks, and the keys are held hard under the thumb of your +will. Of course there may really not be much in it; and again there may +be very much. But much or little, it is securely kept under that thick +broad thumb of yours. + +Oh! you _give_; of _course_; yes, yes, we're all good proper Christian +folk here. We give a tenth, and even much more. We support an aggressive +missionary propaganda. That's the thing, you know, in our day, for good +church people. We give to all the good things. Ye-es, no doubt. And we +are very careful, too, that that _inconsiderate_ Hand shall not disturb +the greater bulk that remains between hinge and lock. That's _yours_. Of +course you are _His_, redeemed, saved by His blood. + +Well, well, how these pronouns, "His," "ours," do get mixed up! How +lovely some things are to _sing_ about, in church, and special services, +at Keswick and Northfield. But through it all we hold hard to that key, +we don't let go--_even to Him_, though it is He who entrusts all to our +temporary keeping. We do guard the width of that opening crack, do we +not? + +One day I looked through that crack and caught a glimpse of _His face_ +looking through full in my own, with those eyes of His. And at first I +wanted to take the door clear off of its hinges and stand it outside +against the bricks, and leave the whole door-space wide for Him. + +But I've learned better. No man wants to leave the doorway of his life +unguarded. He must keep the strong hand of his controlling purpose on +the knob of the front door of his life. There are others than He, evil +ones, cunningly subtle ones, standing just at the corner watching for +such an opportunity. And they step quickly slyly in under your untaught +unsuspicious eyes, and get things badly tangled in your life. There's a +better, a stronger way. + +Here's the personal translation that I try now, by His help, to work out +into living words, the language of life. He comes to His own, and His +own opens the door wide, and _holds_ it wide open, that He may come in +all the way, and cleanse, and change, readjust, and then shape over on +the shape of His own presence. + +But every one must work out his own translation of that; and every one +does. And the crowd reads--not this printed version. It reads this other +translation, the one nearest, in such big print, the one our lives work +out daily. That's the translation they prefer. And that's the +translation they're being influenced by, and influenced by tremendously. + + + +He Came to His Own. + + +In certain circles in England, they tell of a certain physician years +ago. He came of a very humble family. His father was a gardener on a +gentleman's estate. And the father died. And the mother wasn't able to +pay her son's schooling. But a storekeeper in the village liked this +little bright boy and sent him to school. And he went on through the +higher schooling, became a physician, and began his practice in London. +He became skilled, and then famous, and then wealthy. + +He remembered his dear old mother, of course. He sent her money, and +fabrics for dresses, and wrote her. But for a long time, in the busy +absorption of his life, he had not been to see her. And the dear old +mother in the little cottage in the country lived in the sweet +consciousness that her son was a great physician up in the great London. +He was her chief topic of conversation. When the neighbours were in she +would always talk of her son, her Laddie, she called him. + +"He's so good to me, my Laddie is. He sends me money. I put it in the +bank. He sends me cloth for dresses; it's quite too good for a plain +body like me. And he writes me letters, such good letters, wonderful +letters. But he's so busy up there, that he hasn't been to see me for a +long time now. You know he's a great doctor now, and he has great skill, +and there are so many needing him. And he's no time at all, even for +himself, I expect. But"--she would always finish her talk as they sat +over the tea by saying, half to herself, really more to herself than to +the little group, with a half-repressed longing sigh, "but, I wish, I +just _wish_ I could _see_ my _Laddie_." + +Then some changes took place on the estate. And the cottage where she +had lived so long must be given up. And the dear old woman had to make +new plans. And she cudgeled her old head, and thought, and at last she +said to herself, "I know what I'll do. I'll go-up to London, and I'll +live with Laddie. He'll be so glad to have me." And bright-coloured +visions flitted through her mind, as she sat over her tea by the open +grate. But she wouldn't send him word; no, no, she would surprise him, +and add to his pleasure. + +And the dear old soul, in her fine simplicity, did not think into what +this would mean, nor of the difference that had grown up with the years, +in manner of life, between her son and herself. He was a cultured +gentleman, with his well-appointed city home, and the circle of friends +that had grown up about him. And she was a simple uncultured country +woman with a broad provincial twist on her tongue. But she was +blissfully unconscious of this. She would go and live with her Laddie. +It would be so delightful for them both. + +And so she went. It was her first train journey, and quite a time of it +she had finding the house. But at last she stands looking up at the +house. "Ugh! does my Laddie live here! in this great mansion?" But there +was the name on the door-plate. There was no mistaking that. And so she +rang the bell. "Is the doctor in?" She could hardly get the word +"doctor" out. She had never called him that before, just Laddie. But now +she must say it. "Is the doctor in?" And the word almost stuck in her +throat as she thought to herself, "This poor man opening the door +doesn't know that the 'doctor' really belongs to _me_." + +But in a hard voice the servant said that it was past the hours. She +couldn't see the doctor. + +"Ah! bat," she said, quite taken by surprise at being held there, "I +_must_ see him." + +"But, I tell you, it's quite too late to see him to-day." + +But she resolutely put her stout country-boot in the crack of the door, +and her English jaw set in true English fashion, and she said with that +quietness that has the subtle touch of danger in it, "I'll see the +doctor." + +And the servant looked puzzled and went to report about this strangely +insistent woman. And the doctor was annoyed by the interruption in the +midst of something that was absorbing him. He said sharply, "It's past +the hours; I can see no one." + +"I told her so, sir," replied the man deferentially, "but she insists in +a strange way, sir." + +"What's she like?" + +"Oh, just a plain country body, sir." + +"Well, show her up." + +And I am glad to remember that she had a warm embrace of his strong +arms, as he instantly recognized her in the doorway, while the servant +stared. Then he said rather nervously as the servant discreetly +withdrew, "How did yon happen to come? Why didn't you send word? Has +anything happened?" And then as she sat by the fire sipping a cup of +tea, she told the story, in her own simple slow way, and ended up with, +"And now I'm coming to live with you, Laddie." And the old eyes behind +the spectacles beamed, and the dear old wrinkled face glowed. + +And he poked the fire, and tried to think You know, our English friends +depend almost wholly on the open grate fire, as we do so largely in the +South. And it's a great thing, is the open grate fire. It's a fire. It +warms your body, at least in front in extreme weather. But it's more +than a fire. It's a stimulus to thought. It refreshes your spirit, and +rests your tired nerves, and it is a wonderful thing to help you unravel +knotty problems. So he poked the fire and thought, while she, quite +unconscious of his embarrassment, went on sipping her tea and talking. + +It would never do to have her come there, he thought. And his thoughts +went to the circle of friends at the dinner table in the evening, and to +the critical city servants that ran his bachelor establishment. And just +then his ear caught anew the broad provincial twist on her tongue. He +had never noticed it so broad, so decided, before. And she was talking +the small countryside talk, chickens and an epidemic among them. And +that grated strangely. It certainly wouldn't do to have her come there. + +Then the tide began to rise gently on the beach of his heart. He +thought, "She's my _mother_. And if mother wants to come here, here she +comes." And he straightened up in his chair, as he gave a gentler touch +to a blazing lump of coal. Then the tide ebbed. It began running out +again. "No, it would hardly do." And he poked and thought. Finally he +broke into her run of talk. + +"Mother, you know it is not very healthful here. We have bad fogs in +London. And you're used to the wholesome country air. It wouldn't agree +with you here, I'm afraid. I'll get a little cottage on the edge of +town, and I'll come and see you very often." + +And the dear old woman _sensed_ at once just what he was thinking. She +was not stupid, if she was just a plain homely body. He got his brains +from his simple country mother, as many a man of note has done. But she +spoke not of what she felt. She simply said, with that quietness which +grows out of strong self-control: + +"It's a bit late the night, Laddie, I'm thinking, to be talking about +new plans." + +And he said softly, "Forgive me, mother: it is late, I forgot." And he +showed her to her sleeping apartment. + +"And where do you sleep, Laddie?" + +"Right here, mother, this first door on the left. Be sure to call me if +you need anything." + +And he bade her a tender "good-night," and went back to his study to do +some more thinking and planning. And very late he came up to his +sleeping-chamber. And he was just cuddling his head into the soft pillow +for the night, when the door opened, so softly, and in there came a +little body in simple white night garb, with a quaint old-fashioned +nightcap on, candle in hand. She came in very softly. And he started up. + +"Mother, are you ill? What's the matter?" + +And she came over very quietly, and put down the candle on the table +before she answered. And then softly: + +"No, no, Laddie, I'm not ill. I just came to tuck you in for the night +as I used to do at home. ... Lie still, my Laddie." + +And she tucked the clothes about his neck, and smoothed his hair, and +patted his cheek, and kissed his face. And she crooned over him as +mother with little child. The years were quite forgot. She had her +little son again. And she talked mother's love-talk to a child. +"Good-night, Laddie ... good-night ... good-night ... mother's own boy." +And a little more tucking and smoothing and patting and kissing, and +then she turned so quietly, picked up the candle, and went out, closing +the door so softly, her great strength revealed in her gentleness. + +And he was just on the point of starting up and saying, "Mother, you +must stay with me, right here"--no, the morning will do, he thought. But +when the morning came she wasn't down for breakfast. And when he went to +her room she wasn't there. It turned out afterwards that she had said to +herself, "It doesn't suit my Laddie's plans to have me here. I don't +understand why. It isn't his fault at all. It just doesn't suit. And +I'll never be a trouble to my Laddie." + +And so with that rare characteristic English trait of independence, she +had quietly gone off early that morning before the house was astir. And +he broken-hearted--I'm always glad to remember that--he searched through +the wilderness of London for more than a year, searched diligently, but +could find no trace of her. And then he was graciously permitted to +minister to her last hours in a hospital where a street accident had +sent her unconscious, and where he was chief of the medical staff. + +_She came to her own and her own received her not._ He loved her, but it +didn't suit his plans. _He, Jesus_, came to _His_ own, and His own +received Him not; it didn't suit their plans. Ah! listen yet further: He +_comes_ to His own, you and me, and His own--_you_ finish it. Have we +some plans, too, set plans, that we don't propose to change, even +for--(softly) even for _Him_? Each of us is finishing that sentence, not +in words so much if at all, in the words of our action. And the crowd +reads our translation. + + + +The Oldest Family. + + +"But," John goes on. That was a steadying "but." It was hard on John to +recall how they treated his Friend and Master. But there is a "but." +There's another aide, an offset to what he's been saying, a bright bit +to offset the black bit. But as many as did receive Him. Some received. +Jesus was rejected, yes, abominably, contemptibly rejected. But He was +also accepted, gladly, joyously, wholeheartedly accepted, even though +it came to mean pain and shame. + +_As many as received Him_, John says, _He received into His family_. The +conception of a family and of a home where the family lives, runs all +through underneath here. They would not receive this Jesus because He +didn't belong to the inner circle of the old families which they +represented. They regarded themselves as the custodians of the +exclusive aristocratic circles of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem was the upper +circle of Israel. + +And every one knew that Israel was the chiefest, the one uppermost +nation, of the earth, with none near enough to be classed second. They +were the favourites of God, all the rest were "dogs of Gentiles," +outsiders, not to be mentioned in the same breath. To these national +leaders of Jesus' day, this was the very breath of their life. + +"And _this Jesus_!" They spat on the ground to relieve the intensity of +their contempt. "Who was He? A peasant! a Galilean! Nazareth!" Nazareth +was put in as a sort of superlative degree of contempt. Of course, they +could easily have found out about the lineage of Jesus. In the best +meaning of the word, Jesus was an aristocrat. Apart from its +philological derivation that word means one who traces his lineage back +through a worthy line for a long way, and so one who has the noble +traits of such lineage. In the best meaning of the word Jesus was an +_aristocrat_. His line traced back without slip or break to the great +house of David, and that meant clear back to Adam. The records were all +there, carefully preserved, indisputable. They could easily have found +this out. + +I recall talking one day in London with a gentle lady of an old, titled +Scottish family, an earnest Christian, trained in the Latin Church. In +the course of the conversation she remarked, "Of course, Jesus was a +_peasant_." And I replied as gently as I could so as not to seem to be +arguing, "Of course, He was _not_ a peasant. He chose to _live_ as a +peasant, for a great strong purpose. But He was an aristocrat in blood. +His family line traced directly back through the noblest families clear +to the beginning. No one living had a longer unbroken lineage. And that +is the very essence of aristocracy." + +In some circles, they count much, or most, on old families. In certain +cities of our own country, east and south, this is reckoned as the +hall-mark of highest distinction. When one goes across the water to +England and the Continent, he finds the old families of America are +rather young affairs. And as he pushes on into the East, some of the old +families of Europe sometimes seem fairly recent. I remember in the +Orient running across a family where the father had been a Shinto +priest, father and son successively, through forty-five generations; and +another where the father of the family has been successively a +court-musician for thirty-eight generations. I thought maybe I had run +into some really old families at last. + +I come of a rather old family myself. It runs clear back without break +or slip to Adam in Eden. I've not bothered much with tracing it, for +there are some pretty plain evidences of ugly stains on the family +escutcheon, running all through, and repeatedly. And then even more than +that I've become intensely interested in another family, an older +family, the oldest family of all. Arrangements have been made whereby I +have been taken into this oldest family of all with full rights and +privileges. My claims to aristocracy are now of the very highest, with +all the noble obligations that go with it. That's what John is talking +of here. _As many as received Him, He received into His family, the +oldest family of all._ + +These people refused Jesus because He didn't belong to their set. In +their utterly selfish prejudice and wilful ignorance, these leaders shut +Him out from the circles they controlled. But with great graciousness He +received into His circle any, of any circle, high or low, who would +receive Him into their hearts. To as many as received Him into their +hearts He opened the door into His own family. He gave them the +technical right of becoming children of His Father. + +Their part of the thing is put very simply in two ways. They _believed_. +They were told, they listened and thought, they accepted as true, they +risked what they counted most precious, they loved. So they believed. +And so they _received._ The door opened, the inner door, the heart door. +He went in. That settled things for them. When He graciously entered +their hearts, the inner citadel of their lives, that settled their place +in this oldest family of all. + + + +How We Don't Get In, and How We Do. + + +It is of intensest interest in our day to have John go on to tell, in +his own simple taking way, just how we get into this God-family. First +of all, he tells us how we _don't_ get in. Listen: "_not of blood_," +that is, not by our natural generation; "_nor of the will of the +flesh_," that is, not by anything we can do of ourselves, though this +has a place, a distinctly secondary place; "_nor of the will of man_," +that is, not by what somebody else can do for us, though this too has +its place. + +These are the three "_nots_"; the three ways we are _not_ saved. And it +becomes of intensest interest to notice that these are the very three +ways that the crowd is emphasizing to-day, some this, others that, as +the way of being saved. The three modern words we commonly use for these +three "nots" of John are, _family, culture_, and _influence_. + +Some of us seem to be fully expecting to walk into the presence of God, +and to get all there is to be gotten there, because of the family we +belong to. This is probably stronger in some of us than we are conscious +of. It's a matter of blood with us, our blood, our natural generation. +We take greatest pride in showing what blood it is that runs in our +veins. We trace the line far back to those whose names are well known. +And this sort of thing has overpowering influence in our human affairs +down here. + +His gracious majesty King George is King of England, because he is the +child of Edward and Alexandra. His one and only claim to the English +throne is that at the time of accession he was their oldest living son. +But that won't figure a farthing's worth when he comes up to the +hearthfire of God's family. And I think he understands this full well. +I'm expecting to see him there; not as King of England, but as a +brother. + +It is not a matter of blood. It's a blessed thing to be well-born. It +makes a tremendous difference to have the blood of an old noble family +in one's veins, if it is good clean blood. But it'll never save us. +Salvation is not by lineal descent, not by family line. It is "not of +blood." John clears that ground. + +Some of us put great stress on what we are in ourselves. This looms big +with a great crowd scattered throughout the earth. We know so much. We +have gotten it by dint of hard work. We can do some things so skilfully. +We have worked into positions of great power among men. Our names are +known. Sometimes they are spelled in large letters. + +The broad word for this is _culture_, what we have gained and gotten by +our effort, of that which is reckoned good, and which _is_ good. Culture +is one of the chief words in our language to-day. Whether spelled the +English way or the German, it looms big. It is one of our modern +tidbits. It is chewed on much, and pleases our palate greatly. And +culture is good, if it is good culture. + +But, have you noticed, that you have to have a thing before you can +culture it? No amount of the choicest culture will get an apple out of a +turnip, nor a Bartlett pear out of a potato, nor make a Chinese into an +Englishman, nor an American into a Japanese. Culture can improve the +stock, but _it can't change it_. It takes some other power than culture +to change the kind. Here we have to be made of the same kind as they are +up in the old family of God. There must be a change at the core. Then +culture of that new stock is only good and blessed. + +This is John's second "not." It seems rather radical. It completely +undercuts so much of our present day notions. If John is right, some of +us are wrong, radically, dangerously wrong. Yet John had a wonderful +Teacher whom he lived with for a while. And after He had gone, John had +another Teacher, unseen but very real, who guided, especially in the +writing of the old Jesus-story. The whole presumption is in favour of +John's way of it being wholly right. And if that makes us wrong, we +would better be grateful to find it out _now_, while there's time to +change. Being saved is not a matter of what we can do, of our culture, +though this has its proper place. + +And some of us put tremendous stress to-day on _influence_, what we can +command from others, in furtherance of our desires. Influence is spelled +in biggest type and printed in blackest ink. Whether in political +matters at Washington or at London; in financial, whether Lombard Street +or Wall Street; or in the all-important social matters, or even in the +educational, the university world, the chief question is, "Whose +influence can you get?" "What name can you quote?" "Whose backing have +you?" Influence and culture are the twin gods to-day. The smoke of +their incense goeth up continuously. Their places of worship are +crowded, with bent knees and prostrate forms and reverential hush. + +Have you noticed that _Jesus_ hadn't enough influence with the officials +of His day to keep from the cross? No: but He had enough _power_ to +break the official emblem of earth's greatest authority, the Roman seal +on the Joseph tomb. Rather striking that; intensely significant for us +moderns. _Peter_ hadn't enough _influence_ with the authorities to keep +out of jail. Sounds rather disgraceful that, does it not? Aye, but he +had enough _power_ with God to open jail-doors and walk quietly out +against the wish of those highest in authority. + +Influence has its proper place. It's good, _if_ it is. But we are not +saved by it. We are not saved by what some one else can do for us; "not +of the will of man." Your mother's prayers and your wife's, and the +influence of their godly lives will have great weight. It's a great +blessing to have them. They help enormously. But the thing itself that +takes a man into the presence of God, saved and redeemed, is something +immensely more than this, some action of his own that goes to the roots +as none of these other things do. + +One time a deputation waited on Lincoln to press a matter of public +concern. But his keenly logical mind discerned flaws in their +impassioned and carefully worked out arguments. He waited patiently till +their case was complete. And then in that quiet way for which he was +famous, he said, "How many legs would a sheep have if you called its +tail a leg?" As he expected, they promptly answered "Five." "No," he +said, "it wouldn't; it would have only four. _Calling_ a tail a leg does +not make it one." So a simple bit of his homely sense and accurate logic +scattered their finely spun argument. + +Calling either family or culture or influence the chief thing doesn't +make it so. These are John's three tremendous "nots." They rather cut +straight across the common current of thought and belief and conduct +to-day. We may indeed be grateful if a single homely drop of black ink +from John's pen put into the beautifully cloudy-grey solution of modern +thought clears the liquid and makes a precipitate of sharply defined +truth that any eye can plainly see. + +This is how we _won't_ be saved. This is how we _don't_ get into the +family of God. It is "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of +the will of man"; not through family connection, nor by what we can do +of ourselves simply, nor by what we can get some of our fellows to do +for us, simply. + +"_But of God_," John says. It is by Someone else, outside of us, above +us, reaching down from a higher level, and putting the germ of a new +life within us, and lifting us up to His own level. He puts His hand +_through_ the open door of our will, what we do in opening up to Him, +_through_ "the will of the flesh." He walks along the pathway of the +earnest desire of those who would help us up, "the will of man." But it +is what _He_ does that does the one thing that all depends upon. His is +the decisive action, _through_ our choosing and our friends' helping. + +I said it isn't a matter of blood, of lineage. Yet it is. That statement +must be modified. Family relationship is of necessity a matter of blood. +That's the very blood of it. This _is_ a matter of blood; but not _our_ +blood; _His._ There has to be a new strain of blood. Our blood is +stained. It is at fault. It is impure. There's been a bad break far back +there in the family record, a complete break. We were powerless either +to purify the stock, or to get over that gap, even if we admitted the +need. + +There had to be a bridging of that gap. It had to be from the upper +side. The other fell short. The gap was still there. There had to be a +new strain of blood. This was, this _is_, the only way. We get into that +old first family only by the Father of the family reaching over the +break and putting in the new strain of blood, the germ of the family +life, and so lifting us up to the new level. And Jesus was God doing +just that. + + + +Our Tented Neighbour. + + +Then John begins a new paragraph. He goes back to tell just how the +thing was done. Listen: _the Word, this wondrous One, became a man, one +of ourselves, and pitched His tent in close amongst our tents._There's +only a stretch of canvas between Him and any of us. He wanted to get +close, close enough to help, yet never infringing upon the privacy of +our tents, only coming in as He was invited. But He has remarkable +ears. A whisper reaches Him at once. And He is out of His tent into ours +to help at the faintest call. That was why He pitched His tent in +amongst ours, to be one of ourselves, and to be at hand in our need. + +And then a touch of awe creeps into John's spirit as he writes, and the +light flashes out of his eye with the intensity of an old picture +surging to the front of his imagination again. There was more than a +_tent_ here, more than a _man_. Out of the man, out through the tent +doorway, and tent canvas, flashes a wondrous, soft, clear light, that +transfigures canvas and tent and man. John's face glows as he writes, +"and we beheld His _glory_." + +I suppose he is thinking chiefly of that still night on white Hermon. +This despised Man had called the inner three away from the crowd, in the +dark of night, and had gently drawn aside the exquisite drapery of His +humanity, and let some of the inner glory shine out before their eyes. +So the way was lightened for them as their feet were turned with His +down towards the dark valley of the cross. I suppose John is thinking +chiefly of this. + +But this is not all, I am very sure. There's more, even though this may +have been most. Glory is the character of goodness. It is not something +tacked on the outside. It is some native thing looking out from within. +So much of what we think of as glory and splendour in scenes of +magnificence is a something in the externals, the outer arrangements. +Splendid garbing, brilliant colours, dazzling shining of lights, seats +removed a distance apart and up, magnificent outer appointments,--these +seem connected in our thought with an occasion and a scene being +glorious. + +But John is using the word in its simple true first meaning. Glory is +something within shining out. It is the inner native light that goodness +gives out. "We beheld _His glory_." I think John must have been thinking +of Nazareth. Thirty out of thirty-three years were spent in homely +Nazareth. Ten-elevenths of Jesus' life was spent in--_living_, simply +living the true pure strong gentle life amid ordinary circumstances, +homely surroundings. This was the greatest thing Jesus did short of +dying. He _lived_. Next to Calvary where the glory shined out +incomparably, it shined out most in Nazareth. He hallowed the common +round of life by living an uncommon life there. This was a revealing of +His glory. So He revealed the inner spirit of simple full obedience to +His Father's plan for His earth-life. + +If we would only rise to His level! The way up is down. We are likest +Him when we live the true Jesus-life _regardless of where it is lived_, +on the street, in the house, amidst the ideals--or lack of ideals--of +those we touch closest. It was a wondrous glory John beheld. And the +crowd--no wonder that crowd couldn't resist Jesus. They can't even yet, +when He is _lived_. + +Then John goes on quietly to explain about that glory, how it came. He +says it was "_glory as of an only begotten of a father_." The common +versions with which we are familiar, the old King James, the English and +American revisions, all say "the," "_the_ only begotten of _the_ +Father." I suppose the translators wanted to make it quite clear that +Jesus was in an exceptional way the very Son of God. And so they don't +translate quite as John put it. They try to help him out a little in +making his meaning clear. + +But you will notice that this old Book of God never needs any helping +out in making the truth quite clear. When you can sift through versions +and languages down to what is really being said, you find it said in the +simplest strongest way possible. + +Here John is saying, "glory as of _an_ only begotten from _a_ father." +It is a family picture, so common in the East. Here in the West, the +unit of society is the individual. The farther west you come the more +pronounced this becomes, until here in our own land individualism seems +at times to run to extremes. Custom in the East is the very reverse of +this. There the unit of action is not the individual, but the _family_. +The family controls the individual in everything. We Westerners think we +can see where it runs to such extremes as to constitute one of the great +hindrances to progress there. + +In the East, if a young man is to be married, he has actually nothing to +do with it, except to be present in proper garb when the time comes. The +fact that he should now be married, the choice of his bride, the +betrothal, the time, all arrangements and adjustments,--all this is done +by the families. The two that we Westerners think of as the principals +have nothing to do, except to acquiesce in the arrangements of their +elders. It is strictly a family affair. + +Even so all that belongs to the family, of wealth, fame, inheritance, +distinction, vests distinctly in the head of the family, the father. He +stands for the whole family. And so, too, all of this descends directly +from the father at his death to his eldest son. In some parts the father +retires at a certain age, either really or nominally, and all becomes +vested technically in his eldest son. And if the son be an only begotten +son, then literally all that is in the father comes into the son. All +the fame, the inheritance, the traditions, the obligations, the wealth, +in short all the glory of the father comes of itself, by common action +of events, to the son. + +Now this is what John is thinking of as he writes, "we beheld His glory, +glory as of _an_ only begotten of _a_ father." That is to say, all there +is in the Father is in Jesus. When you see Jesus, you are seeing the +Father. The whole of God is in this Jesus. This is what John is saying +here. + + + +Grace and Truth Coupled. + + +And then John does a bit of exquisite packing of much in little. He +tells the whole story of the character, the revealed glory, of Jesus in +such a few simple words,--"_full of grace and truth_." Not grace +without truth. That would be a sort of weakly, sickly sentimentalism. +And not truth without grace. That would be a cold stern repellent +insistence on certain high standards. But grace and truth coupled, +intermingling. + +Of course real grace and truth always are coupled. They tell the +exquisite poise that is in everything God does. Truth is the back-bone +of grace. Grace is the soft cushioning of flesh upon the bony framework +of truth. It is the soft warm breath of life in truth. Truth is grace +holding up the one only standard of purity and right and insisting upon +it. And as we look we know within ourselves we never can reach it. Grace +is truth reaching a strong warm hand down to where we are and _helping_ +us reach it. + +With God these things are always coupled. _We_ get them separated badly, +or would I better say, imitations of them. There is a sort of thing we +have called truth. It is not so common now as a generation or more ago. +It is a sort of stern elevated preaching of righteousness, but with no +warm feel of life to it. I can remember hearing preaching in my immature +boy days that made me feel that the man and the thing must be right, but +neither had any attraction for me. It was as though a man went fishing +with a carefully-made properly-labelled metallic-bait at the end of a +long stout cord, and said, as he dangled it in the sinful waters to the +elusive fish, "Now, bite; or be damned." + +It was never put so baldly, of course, in words. And I was only a child +with immature childish imaginations. Yet that was the feeling about the +thing the child got. But it's scarcely worth while talking of that now +except to point the contrast; things have swung so far to the other +extreme. + +The current thing to-day is grace without truth, or what is supposed to +be grace. It is a sort of man-made substitute. It's something like this. +Here's a man in the gutter, the moral gutter. It may be the actual +gutter. Or, there may be the outer trappings of refinement that easy +wealth provides; or, the real refinement that culture and inheritance +bring. But morally and in spirit, it's a gutter. The slime of sin and +low passion, of selfishness and indulgence and self-ambition, oozes over +everything in full sight. The man's in the gutter. + +And along comes the modern philosopher of grace, so-called. He looks +down compassionately, and says, "Poor fellow, I'm so sorry for you. Too +bad you should have gotten down there. Let me help you a bit, my +brother." So he puts some flowering plants down in the slime of the +gutter, and he brushes the man's clothes a bit, and his hair, and +sprinkles the latest-labelled cologne-water over him, and pats him on +the shoulder, and says, "Now, you feel better, my man, don't you?" And +the man sniffs the perfume, and is quite sure he does. _But he is still +in the gutter._ + +There seems to be an increasing amount of this sort of thing over in my +neighbourhood. How is it in your corner of the planet? There's an +intense stress on environment; that means the _outside_ of things. +Better sanitation, improved housing, purer milk supply, and segregation +of vice which seems to mean putting some of the viler smelling slime of +the gutter, the slimer slime, all over in one guttered section by +itself. But there can be no health there. It's a _change of location_ +that is needed! + +The wondrous Jesus-plan is different. It holds things in poise. Grace +_and_ truth. Truth is Jesus stretching His hand up high, up to the limit +of arm's length, and saying, "Here is the standard, purity, +righteousness, utter honesty of heart and rigid purity of motive and +life. You _must_ reach this standard. It can't be lowered by the half +thickness of a paper-thin shaving. You must come to this standard. The +standard never comes down to you." + +And the man in the gutter says, "I'll never reach it." And he is right. +_He_ never will--of himself, alone. Yet that's truth, true truth. "A +hopeless case" you say; "utter impractical idealizing! Case ruled out of +court." Just wait, that's only half the case, and not the warm half +either. + +Grace is Jesus going down into the gutter, the gutterest gutter, and +taking the man by his outstretching hand, and _lifting_ him _clean up_ +out of the gutter, up, and up, _till the man reaches the standard_, and +is never content till he does. That was a tremendous going down, and a +yet more tremendous lifting up. Jesus broke His heart and lost His life +in the going down. + +But out from the broken heart came running the blood that proved both +cleansing and a salve. And out of the grave of that lost life came a new +life that proved an incentive, and a tremendous dynamic. The blood +cleanseth the _inside_ of the man in the gutter, and heals his sores, +restores his sight and hearing and sensitiveness of touch. The new life +put inside the man makes him rise up and _walk determinedly_ out of the +gutter to a _new location_. He is a new man, with a new inside, in a new +location. That threefold cord is ahead of Solomon's--it _can't_ be +broken. + +And, if you'll mark it keenly, a new _in_side includes a new _out_side. +The thing that in religious talk is called conversion is a sociological +factor that cannot be ignored by the thoughtful student. The drunkard +goes down to the old-fashioned sort of mission where they insist on +teaching that the blood of Jesus cleanseth from all sin, and that the +Holy Spirit will make a new man of you, and burn the sin out. + +And _something_ happens to the drunkard. He kneels a drunkard, drunk; he +rises a man, sober. He goes to the hole he calls home. And at once a +change begins to work gradually out. He treats his wife and children +differently. He works. They are fed better and clothed warmer. He gets a +better house in a better neighbourhood. The new sociological factor is +at work. It began inside; it revolutionizes the outside. + +Settlement houses, better environment, improved outer conditions of +every sort, are blessed, and only blessed, after the inside is fixed or +in helping to get it fixed. If that isn't done, they are simply as a +lovely bit of pink-coloured court-plaster skilfully adjusted over an +ugly incurable ulcer. The man is befooled while the ulcer eats into his +vitals. + +It's only the blood-power of a Jesus, _the Jesus,_ that can fix the +inside. He cuts out the ulcer and puts in a new strain of blood. Then +the inner includes the outer. And the most grateful of all is the man. +This is the Jesus-plan, John says, "_full of grace and truth._" + +Grace is named first. It _comes_ first. That is a bit of the +graciousness of it. That's love's exquisite diplomacy. We feel the +grateful warmth of the sun in the winter's air, and are drawn by it. We +smell the fragrance of the roses and come eagerly nearer. We hear the +winsomeness of a gentle wooing voice a-calling, and instinctively answer +to it. And then we find the sun's power to heal and cleanse and its +insistence on burning up what can't stand its heat. + +We find the inspiring, purifying uplift of the flowers, drawing us up +the hillside to the top. We find the voice--the Man--gently but with +unflinching unbending determination that never yields a hairbreadth, +insisting on our coming clear up to the topmost level. That's a wondrous +order of words, and coupling of helps, grace and truth. + +And this is Jesus. This is John's simple tremendous picture. This Man +comes down into our neighbourhood, on our earth. He sticks up His +stretch of tent-canvas right next ours. He insists on being His own true +self in the midst of the unlikeliest surroundings. The glow of His +presence shines out over all the neighbourhood of human tents. There's a +purity of air that stimulates. Men take deep breaths. There's a +fragrance breathing subtly out from His tent that draws and delights. +Men come a-running with childlike eagerness. + + + +Grace Flooding. + + +And now as Jesus comes quietly down the river road where John's crowd is +gathered, John the witness points his finger tensely out, and eagerly +cries out: _There He is! This is the man I've been telling you about! He +that cometh after me in point of time is become first in relation to me +in point of preeminence: for He was before me both in time and in +preeminence._ + +And then John adds a tremendous bit. He had just been talking about +Jesus being _full_ of that great combination of grace and truth. Now his +thought runs back to that. Listen: "Of _His fullness_ have we all +received." + +There's another translation of this sentence that I have run across +several times. It reads in this way: "Of His _skimpiness_ have we all +received." I never found that in common print; only in the larger print +of men's lives. But in that printing it seems to have run into a large +edition, with very wide circulation. Men don't read this old Book of God +much; less than ever. They get their impression of God wholly from those +who call themselves His followers. + +They watch the procession go by. Here they come crippled diseased +maimed weakened in body, piteously pathetically crutching along, singed +and burned with the flames of the same low passion that the onlooking +crowds know so well, struggling, limping, crutching along bodily and in +every other way. + +And that's a crowd with very keen logic, those onlookers. It judges God +by those bearing His name, very properly. And it says more or less +_unconsciously_,--"What a poor sort of God He must be those people have. +No doubt He has a great job of management on His hands. There are so +many of them to provide for. And apparently there can't be any +abundance, certainly no overflow, no surplus. He has to piece it out the +best He can to make it go as far as possible." + +"I think maybe I needn't be in any hurry to join that crowd, at least +till I have to, along towards the end of things here. There would only +be one more to carry. He has such a crowd now. And the resources are +pretty badly strained, judging by appearances." So the crowd talks. Poor +God! How He is misrepresented by some walking translations. "Of His +_skimpiness_---!" Be careful. Don't take too much. Be grateful for the +crumbs. + +Please clean your spectacles, and readjust them carefully, and if you +are afflicted with the small-print Bible that seems in such common use, +get a reading-glass and look here at the proper translation. That +crutching, leather-bound translation is grossly inaccurate, if it _is_ +in such big print, and in such wide circulation. Look here. Can you see +the words? This is the only correct reading: "Of His _fullness_ have all +we received." Put that into the print of your life, for your own sake +and for the crowd's sake, yes, and for God's sake, too, that the crowd +may know the kind of a God God is. + +And as if John had a suspicion about possible bad translations, he did a +bit of underscoring. That word _fullness_ is underscored in John's +original copy. It's a heavy underscoring, in red. The underscoring is in +three words he adds: "Grace for grace." That is, grace _in place of_ +grace. It's a sort of picture. Some grace has been received. And it is +so wondrous that nothing seems so good. And the man is singing as he +goes about his work. + +Then comes a sudden soft inrushing of a flood of grace so great that it +seems to displace all that was there. Oh! the man didn't know there was +such grace as this. It seems as if he had never known grace before. And +the work-song is hushed into a great stillness, though the wondrous +rhythm of peace is greater than before. + +And then before he quite knows how it happens in comes another soft +subtle inrushing flood-tide of grace that seems to displace all again. +Some temptation comes, some sore need, some tight corner. You look to +Him; lean on Him; risk all on His response. He _responds_; and in comes +the fresh inrush. + +And then this sort of thing becomes a habit, God's habit of responding +to your need, need of every sort. It becomes the commonplace, the +blessed commonplace that can never be common. That's John's underscoring +of the word "fullness." May the crowds whose elbows we jostle get this +underscored translation, bound in shoe-leather, _your_ shoe-leather. + +Then in his eagerness to make us understand the thing really, John makes +a contrast. "The law was _given_ through Moses; grace and truth _came_ +through Jesus Christ." The law was a thing, _given_, through a man. +Grace and truth was _a man coming_, the very embodiment in Himself of +what the two words stand for. + +The law, the old Mosaic law, was not a statement of the _full_ message +of God. That was given much earlier. It was given to all. It came +directly. It was given first in Eden, in its flood; and then +continuously to every man wherever he was. It was given within each +man's own heart, and through the unfailing flooding light in nature +above and below and all around. The tide of its coming has never ceased +in volume nor in steadiness of flow; and does not cease. That tide came +to flood in Jesus. And that flood has never known an ebb. + +But men's eyes got badly affected. They didn't let the light in, either +clearly or fully. The light was there, but it was not getting in. +Something had to be done to help out those eyes. So the law was given. +It was merely a mirror to let a man see his face, what it was like. + +Here's a mother calling to her little son, "Come here and let me wash +your face." And he calls out, "It isn't dirty." "Yes, dear, it is very +dirty, come at once." "Why, no, mother, it isn't dirty; you washed it +this morning." And the child's tone blends a hurt surprise and a settled +conviction that his mother is certainly wrong _this_ time about the +condition of his face. + +And if the mother be of the thoughtful brooding kind, she says nothing, +but gets a hand mirror, and holds it before the child's face. That will +always get a child's attention. And the boy looks; he sees his dirty +face reflected. The blank astonishment on his face can't be put into +words. It tells the radical upsetting revolution in his thought on that +subject. How could it have happened that his face got into that +condition! And the washing process is yielded to at least; possibly even +asked for. + +That's what the law did and does. It showed man his face, his heart, his +need. It brings upsetting revolutionary ideas regarding one's self. +There it stops. That's its limit. Then the Man who in Himself is grace +and truth does the rest. + + + +The Spokesman of God. + + +Then John quietly, deftly draws the line around to the starting point in +that first tremendous statement. He completes a circle perfect in its +strength and beauty and simplicity, as every circle is. If we follow the +order of the words somewhat as John wrote them down, we find the bit of +truth coming in a very striking, as well as in a fresh way. "_God no +one has ever, at any time, seen_." + +That seems rather startling, does it not? What do these older pages +say? Adam talked and walked and worked with God, and then was led to +the gate of the garden. God appeared to Abraham, and gave him a +never-to-be-forgotten lesson in star study. Moses spent nearly six weeks +with Him, twice over, in the flaming mount, and carried the impress of +His presence upon his face clear to Nebo's cloudy top. + +The seventy elders "saw the God of Israel, and did eat and drink," the +simple record runs. And young Isaiah that morning in the temple, and +Ezekiel in the colony of exiles on the Chebar, and Daniel by the Tigris +at the close of his three weeks' fast,--these all come quickly to mind. +John's startling statement seems to contradict these flatly. + +But push on. John has a way of clearing things up as you follow him +through. Listen to him further: The only-begotten God who is in the +bosom of the Father--_He_ has always been the _spokesman_ of God. Look +into that sentence of John's a little. It seems quite clear, clear to +the point of satisfying the most critical research, that John wrote down +the words, "the only-begotten _God_." The contrast in his mind is not +between "God," and the "only begotten Son." It is a contrast whose +verbal terms fit with much nicer exactness than that. It is a contrast +between "God" and the "only-begotten God." + +There is only one such person whichever way unity. They tell the whole +story hanging at the end of John's pen. This little bit commonly called +the prologue is a gem of simplicity and compactness. + +It is John's Gospel in miniature, even as John's Gospel is the whole +Bible story in miniature. You can see the whole of the sun reflected in +a single drop of water. You can see the whole of both Father and Son in +the action of love in these simple opening lines of John's Gospel. + +Have you ever been walking down a country road till, weary and thirsty, +you stopped at an old farmhouse and refreshed yourself at the +old-fashioned well, with its bucket and long sweep? And as you rested a +bit by the well you wondered how deep it was. It didn't look deep at +all. The water was near, and it was so clear and sweet and refreshing, +and so easy to get at for a drink. + +_Is_ it deep? So you fish a rather long bit of string out of your +pocket, and tie it to a bit of stone you find lying close by. And you +let the stone down, and down, and down, till you are surprised to find +that the well is deeper than your string is long. + +Well, John's opening bit is just like that. It seems very simple, easily +understood at first flush in the mere statements made. The water is near +the top. You easily drink. And you are refreshed. But when you try to +find out how deep it is, you are startled to find that it is clear over +your head. + +But it is _never over your heart_. It is too deep for you to grasp and +understand. You never touch bottom. _But_ it's never beyond +heart-understanding. You can sense and feel and love. You can open the +sluice-gates into your heart, and have the blessed flood-tide lift and +lift and bear you aloft and along. You can _love._ And that is the whole +story. + +Was John an artist? Is he making a rare painting for us here? Is he +studying perspective, shading and spacing, to an exquisite nicety that +is revealed in the very way he puts words and sentences and paragraphs +together? I do not know. And if any of you think the thing I am about to +speak of is due to a mere mechanical chance of the pen, I'll not quarrel +with you. Though I shall still have my own personal thought in the +matter. + +But will you notice this? John begins his prologue with a description of +a wonderful personality. He ends it with another description of this +same personality. Both descriptions are rare in beauty and boldness, in +simplicity and brevity. And right midway between the two, at almost the +exact middle line of the reading, at what is the artistic center, stands +the word "_came_." + +That word "came" gathers up into itself and tells out to you the whole +story about this twice-described personality. "He came" John says. +That's the whole thing. First the _He_ fills your eye, and then what He +did--_came_. And as you step off a bit for better perspective, and +change your personal position this way and that to get the best light, +you find the picture standing out before your awed eyes. + +It is a Man coming down the road with face looking into yours. He is +truly a man, every line of the picture makes that clear to you. But such +a man as never was seen before, with the rarest blending of the kingly +and the kindly in His bearing. The purest purity, the utmost +graciousness, the highest ideals, the gentlest manner, nobility beyond +what we have known, and kindliness past describing,--all these blend in +the pose of His body and most of all in the look of His face. And He is +in motion. He is walking, walking towards us, with hands outstretched. + +This is John's picture of Jesus. He came to His own. He came because His +own drew Him. Out from the bosom of His Father, into the womb of a +virgin maid, and into the heart of a race He came. Out of the +glory-blaze above into the gloom of the shadow, and the glare of false +lights below, He came. + +Out of the love of a Father's heart, the Only-begotten came, into +contact with the hate that was the only-begotten of sin, that He might +woo us men up, and up, and up, into the only-begotten life with the +Father. + +Jesus was God on a wooing errand to the earth. + + + + +III + +The Lover Wooing + + _A Group of Pictures Illustrating How the Wooing Was Done, and How + the Lover Was Received_ + + + + + "Still with unhurrying chase, + And unperturbed pace, + Deliberate speed, majestic instancy + Came the following Feet, + And a Voice above their beat-- + _Naught shelters thee, who will not shelter Me_.'" + + --"_The Hound of Heaven_." + + "O thou hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble, + why shouldst thou be as a sojourner in the land, and as a wayfaring + man that spreadeth his tent for a night?"--_Jeremiah xiv. 8_. + + He came unto his own home, and they who were his own kinsfolk + received him not into the house, but left him standing outside in + the cold and dark of the winter's night. But as many as did receive + him he received into his home, and gave each a seat in the inner + circle at the hearthfire of God.--_John i. II, 12. Free + translation_. + + + + +III + +The Lover Wooing + +(John i. 19-xii. 50) + + + +The Mother of all Love-Words. + + +Brooding is love at its tenderest and best It is love giving its best, +and so bringing out the best possible in the one brooded over. + +Look into the nest where the word itself was brooded. It is a warm +something, warm in itself, not a borrowed warmth. The warmth is its +chief trait. It is a soft tender unfailing cuddling warmth. It cuddles +and coos, it glows and floods a gentle comforting stimulating warmth. +And the best there is lying asleep within the thing so brooded over +awakes. + +It answers to that creative mothering warmth. It pushes out, against all +obstacles, and comes shyly and winsomely, but steadily and strongly, out +to the brooding warmth, growing as it comes and growing most as it comes +into closest touch with the warm brooder. + +Brooding is the mother of all love-words,--friendship, wooing, pitying, +helping, mothering, fathering, witnessing, believing. It is the +mother-word, from out whose warm womb all these others come, warm, too, +and full of gentle strong life. Its mother quality is so strong that we +are apt to think of it only in connection with actual mothers, mothers +among animals and birds and of our human kind. + +But this is only one meaning, really a surface meaning, though such a +fine deep meaning in itself. Its real heart meaning lies much deeper. +_Brooding is the mother of all love._ It is its warmth that draws out +that fine feeling that makes and marks friendship. It is its tender +warmth that draws out that finest degree of friendship which knits with +unbreakable bonds two lives into one. + +It reaches out most subtly to knit up again the ends that have ravelled +out under the sore stress of life. It bends compassionately over those +hurt in body, and hurt yet more in their spirit by the greedy rivalry of +life, and nurses into newness of life the shivering shredded hurt parts. +In the more familiar use of the word it fathers and mothers the newly +minted morsels of precious humanity, coming into life with big wondering +eyes. + +And it warms into highest life that highest love that, through the +process of hearing, assenting, trusting, risking, giving the heart's +devotion, comes to know God as a tender Father, and Christ as a precious +personal Saviour. Whether in close friend, or ardent lover, gracious +philanthropist, devoted parent, or earnest witness, it is the same warm +thing underneath, at its fine task--brooding. + +We think of it most in the mother. For it comes to its highest human +perfection there. The true thoughtful mother is first and chiefest a +brooder. She broods in spirit till her child looks into her eyes, +bearing the image, in face and mental impress and spirit, which the +brooding months have given. She broods over the inarticulate days when +the babe cannot tell the felt needs except to a brooding mother's keen +insight. + +She broods over the baby-talk days; over the struggling days when the +child would tell its awakening thoughts out in words, but doesn't know +how yet; over the wilful days which come so early when the first battles +come that decide the whole future. + +With a warmth of tenderness and patience, and a strength of gentle wise +insistence, more than human, she broods. It takes the very strength of +her life, far far more than in prenatal days. So there comes, slowly, +but as she keeps true to the brooding spirit, surely, the strong gentle +self-controlled life out of the warm womb of her brooding life. So comes +the child's higher birth, so preparing the way for the yet higher. + +Now all this is at its native best in God. There only does it reach +finest fruitage. Some day we shall recognize the meaning of that modest +but tremendous little sentence,--_God is love_. This warm brooding +something that comes, gentle as the dawning light in the grey east, +fragrant as the dew of the new morning, irresistible in its pervasive +persuasive presence as the rays of the growing sun, giving to us warmth, +and life, and drawing out from within us warmth and life and beauty and +strength, all in its own image, this is the thing called love. This is +the thing that God is. As we know _it_ we are getting acquainted with +_Him_. + +And if a break comes, instantly love in its grief sets itself with +warmth and renewed strength to the new harder brooding task. It gives +itself out yet more, regardless of cost, until in place of the broken +fragments there comes a finer sort of life out of the warm womb of love, +brooding, redeeming, bringing-back-again love. This is God. This is +Jesus. John shows us Jesus as a picture of the brooding God. + + + +Five Pictures of Jesus. + + +There are five wondrous pictures of Jesus in these newer leaves of the +old Book. Three of them hang on the walls of Paul's tent-weaving +study-room. There's the Colossian picture, the _Creator-Jesus,_ infinite +in power, making all things above and below and around, and holding all +things together.[7] + +Close by it in wondrous contrast is seen the Philippian picture. It is +the _Man-Jesus,_ emptied of all the upper-glory native to Him, bowing +down low and lower and lowest, till in the form of a slave He hangs on a +cross.[8] + +And in contrast yet more striking and startling, close by its side hangs +the Ephesian picture. It is the _Enthroned-Jesus,_ back again in the +soft, blazing, blinding glory of the Father's presence, seated at His +right hand, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and +every name that is named. And as you stand awed before this picture +your eye is caught by the artist's remarque sketch at the bottom. It is +a broken Roman seal, and an open tomb, and a bird with swelling throat +singing joyously.[9] + +Then there's John's later Patmos picture of the _Present-Jesus_, +standing now down on the earth in the midst of His candle-holding +Church, but seen only by opened eyes. There He is seen as a Man of Fire, +ablaze with light, intently watching, with tender but omnipotent touch +waiting, ever waiting; with a patience unknown except in Him, still +waiting.[10] + +But John's earlier Gospel picture is of the _Brooding-Jesus_. The word +"brooding" here takes in its fine deep significance. Jesus is seen here +as a brooding Lover, by the warmth of His wooing love drawing out the +warmth of an answering love. This is peculiarly and distinctively the +picture of John's Gospel. There is _a Man walking towards you_ in these +pages. Turn where you will there He is, and always facing you, with a +gentle eagerness in His face and in the bend-forward of His body. + +There is always a warmth, a gentle radiating comforting drawing warmth +in His presence. This is the thing you feel most, the warmth. But it +isn't the only thing. There's the purity. There are ideals that seem out +of reach in their great height. There's the insistence on these ideals, +rigid stern absolutely unbending insistence. You _see_ these. You can't +help it. You feel them tremendously. They seem to leave you clear out +of reckoning, they are so high up. But there's the warmth, drawing +arousing wooing, irresistible. + +You come to find that the warmth of that presence is as irresistible as +the ideals and the insistence are unbending. And the warmth woos you. It +warms you, till there come the intense admiration of the ideals, and +then the eager reaching of the whole being up towards them. + +This is John's picture of the brooding wooing Jesus. This is God, in +human garb as He comes to us in John's pages. Jesus is God brooding over +us to woo out of us the love and purity, the purity and love, that He +woos into us by the touch of His own warm presence. + +John's little book is put together as simply as his sentences. And as +you take it up, it falls apart almost of itself, so simple and natural +are its divisions. We had a look at the opening paragraphs of the +Gospel, those eighteen brief verses that open the doorway into all the +Gospel holds for us. _There_ is given chiefly John's simple vivid +tremendous picture of _a Person_, coming with swift long stride and +outreached hands. + +Now we turn to the second part of the book. It runs from the nineteenth +verse of the opening chapter on through to the end of chapter twelve. It +is devoted to _the great winsome wooing_ of this great human Person. +Here we see Him on His wooing errand. He woos individual men. He gives +the personal touch. He devotes Himself to one person, now here, now +there. His skill and tact in personal dealing are matchless. But this +is not the chief wooing of these pages. It is _the nation_ He is wooing. +With rarest strategy and boldness and persistence He lays loving siege +to the nation through its leaders. This is central and dominant in all +His movements here. This is the second picture in the gallery of John's +Gospel. + +It is a good thing to run through these fourteen pages of John's Gospel +_several times;_ to run through _rapidly_, though not hurriedly; to run +through them as a story until it stands out in your mind as _one simple +connected, story_. And then it will help greatly, if you are so blest as +to have some boy or girl near at hand to whom you can tell it as a story +in simple child (not childish) talk. + +Pack the whole into one story of ten minutes, or fifteen: the man of the +story;[11] how He tried to win the people's hearts;[12] how towards the +end He spent a long evening with those who loved Him;[13] how awfully He +was treated by those who hated Him;[14] then how wondrously He surprised +His friends;[15] and then the little bit at the end where He prepares +breakfast and has a walk and talk on the seashore with a little group of +those who loved Him most.[16] + +Tell that to a boy or girl as a short story. Use sensible words, but +_not one_ that your little listener wouldn't at once understand. Pretty +sharp discipline for the story-teller, especially if you stop to put in +a simpler word when you've blundered into a big one. The child will be +held by it But you will get the most yourself out of the telling. + + + +Warp-Threads. + + +Now as you read the second part over, it gradually sifts itself into +several incidents about which the story is woven. These incidents form +the warp-threads of the narrative. Into this warp are woven, sometimes +little connecting links, sometimes quarrelsome discussion, sometimes +exquisite bits of Jesus' teaching, and sometimes John's comments. And as +the story grows it reaches one climax after another, each increasing in +intensity, until the intensest is reached.[17] And these incidents fall +naturally into groups. There are three _chief groups_ that seem to stand +out as giving the bolder points of the outline, and then _smaller +groups_ or _single incidents_ that lie in between. + +It is very natural that the story begins with the accounts of the +deputation that was sent from Jerusalem by the official leaders of the +nation, down to the Jordan bottoms where John the witness was drawing +such great crowds. John modestly answers their questions about himself, +and then the next day with dramatic intensity points out the Man for +whom the whole nation has been looking for so long. + +The only response from deputation and officials is a most significant +disappointing silence, a silence fully understood both by John[18] and +by Jesus.[19] But five Galileans in the crowd listening to John's reply +seek out, or are brought into personal questioning touch with, Jesus, +and then yield Him unquestioning belief and personal devotion. And these +five come, in after years, to be leaders known wherever Christ's name is +known.[20] So there begins the sharp contrast running throughout these +pages, between the two sides into which Jesus' presence divides the +crowds. + +Then John traces the simple way in which the faith of these five men ran +its tiny but tough tenacious tendril-roots down into their very vitals. +A simple neighbourhood wedding occasion up near the old Nazareth home +drew Jesus thither with His kinsfolk and His new-made friends. And then +He meets the need of the homely occasion by helping out the shortened +supply of wine in such an unusual way as reveals His character. And the +conviction takes great fresh hold upon these five men that they have +made no mistake. This Man is all they had taken Him for, and He is +immensely more than they had thought into at first.[21] + +Then comes a little connecting link. After the Cana visit, Jesus runs +into the near-by town of Capernaum with His kinsfolk and friends for a +few days, a sort of continuation of the neighbourhood courtesies.[22] + +And then at once John goes to the intensest, and the most significant +incident of this whole section of the book. It is the drastic turning +out, by Jesus, of the traders in the temple-area at Jerusalem. This +touched at once the national leaders' most sensitive nerve, and touched +it roughly. It never ceased aching. This turning of the temple-area into +a common market-place, which so jarred on the holy atmosphere of the +place, and on Jesus' fine spirit, this was by arrangement with these +leaders, and yielded them large profit. Here was the sore spot. + +With one deft stroke John lays bare the secret of the intense hatred of +Jesus by these national leaders, with which these pages teem, and which +came to its bursting head at the cross. Long after, when Jesus had died +and been raised, these five leading disciples find a new strengthening +of their faith in recalling words spoken at this time by Jesus.[23] + +Growing naturally out of this Passover visit comes the Nicodemus +incident. Many of the Passover crowds were caught by the power of Jesus +shown in the miracles He did, but had not the seasoned thoughtful faith +of these first disciples. But one man sifts himself out by his spirit of +earnest inquiry. The sharp contrast that runs throughout these incidents +stands out here. This man is of the inner upper cultured circle, that +controlled national affairs, that sent that Jordan committee, and that +had been so upset by the temple cleansing. + +Yet not only Nicodemus' earnest search for truth, and the questions +asked by him, but the fullness and fineness of spirit truth in Jesus' +words to him reveal the true faith of this rare inquirer; and this is +verified by his later actions.[24] Clearly Jesus found here an opened +door. Here is the first of those exquisite bits of Jesus' teaching that +mark John's Gospel.[25] + +These four incidents make up the first group of, what I think of as, the +three chief groups of incidents in this section of John. The group +begins at the Jordan, and runs up into Galilee, but in its interest and +its chief incident, centres in Jerusalem. The action begins with John +the witness, and swings naturally to Jesus. The contrast in this group +of incidents is intense. With the same evidence at hand, first +contemptuous silence and loving allegiance, then the beginnings of +bitterest hate and of tenderest personal love, grow up side by side. + +Then there is a sort of swing-away-from-Jerusalem group that includes +three incidents. After the rejection of John's witness to Jesus[26] by +the nation's leaders, Jesus withdraws from Jerusalem to the country +districts of Judea. There He takes up the sort of work John has been +doing, so bearing His witness to John. John had drawn great crowds down +to the Jordan and in the neighbourhood of its tributary streams. + +Now Jesus helps in arousing and instructing these crowds. There are two +men preaching instead of one, and Jesus has the greater crowds. This is +used to make trouble. It stirs up gossipy disputings. It is made to look +like a jealous rivalry between the two men. And this supposed rivalry +and disputing about the various claims of the two men become the +uppermost thing. It reflects the characteristic spirit of the leaders. +John greatly renews his witness to Jesus with fresh emphasis and +earnestness.[27] + +But as Jesus sees that His presence is only being made a bone of +contention He quietly slips away from Judea, turning north through +Samaria towards Galilee. Then comes the great story of the visit to +Sychar, with the exquisitely tactful winning of the sinful woman to a +life of purity, and then using her as a messenger to her people. +Imbedded in the story is another bit of Jesus' simple great teaching +talk.[28] + +Then comes a brief connecting link. Finding no acceptance in Judea, His +own country, Jesus goes to Galilee, where visitors at the Jerusalem +Feast of Passover had been spreading the news of His words and deeds, +and so a gracious welcome now awaits Him.[29] + +And here in Galilee He wins the believing love of a roman officer of +noble birth, whose son is desperately ill. The father's faith passes +through three stages, the belief that comes to ask for help, the deeper +belief that rests upon Jesus' word to him and starts back home, and the +yet deeper that gets confirmation of Jesus' word and power in the +recovery of his son from the very time Jesus spoke the assuring +word.[30] + +These are the three incidents in this group away from the Jerusalem +district. It is striking that this group away from Jerusalem stands in +sharp contrast with that first group centering in Jerusalem. _There_ is +rejection by the nation's leaders running from contemptuous silence to +the beginning of open opposition. _Here_ with less evidence there is +acceptance by a Samaritan and a Roman; the one of no social standing; +the other of the highest. + +The rejection of Jesus by the leaders stands in contrast thus far with +acceptance of Him by five Galileans, by a cultured scholarly aristocrat, +a half-breed Samaritan, and a Roman of gentle birth. Acceptance seems to +grow with the distance from Jerusalem. Yet everything hinged in +Jerusalem. _There_ had been the flood-light. Jerusalem was meant to be +the gateway to the world. The irony of sin! The blinding of greed! The +self-cheating of being self-centered! + + + +Climbing towards the Climax. + + +And now, true to his controlling thought, John goes straight back to +Jerusalem with his story, ignoring intervening events. There's another +feast, not called a Passover, but commonly and probably correctly so +reckoned, another crowd-gathering Passover. An extreme chronic case of +bodily infirmity draws out the pity and power of Jesus, and the healed +man takes his first walk after thirty-eight years. + +But the thing is done on a Sabbath day, and gives rise to bitterest and +murderous persecution, first on the score of Sabbath observance, and +then because Jesus claimed God as "His own Father" in a distinctive +sense. Friction fire may send out beautiful sparks. And the opposition +brings out one of the choicest bits of Jesus' teaching to be found in +John. This incident stands by itself.[31] + +And now John reaches over a whole year with only a sentence or two for +connection, and comes again to a Passover. The Passover was _the pivot_ +of the Jewish year and of Jewish national life. This Passover is made +notable by _Jesus' absence from Jerusalem_, the only Passover absence of +His ministry. And the reason is the violence of the persecution by the +national leaders. + +There is the feeding of the hungry thousands with a handful of loaves +and fish. Was this the real Passover celebration? The multitudes fed by +Him who was the Lamb of God and the true Bread of life? while the +technical observance was empty of life! It wouldn't be the only thing of +the sort, in ancient times or modern.[32] + +Jesus withdraws from the crowds who would like a bread-maker for a king, +gets a bit of quiet alone with His Father on the mountainside, and then +walks on the water in the storm to keep His appointment with the +disciples. Then follows a long disputation and another fine bit of +Jesus' teaching.[33] These two incidents make another distinct group, +separated from the previous one by a year on the far side and six months +on the hither side. And the contrast continues, between the acceptance +by the Galilean crowds and the intensifying opposition by the chief +group of Jerusalem leaders. + +Then comes _the second chief group of incidents_. About six months later +Jesus returns to Jerusalem for the autumn Feast of Tabernacles. He +boldly teaches in the temple in the midst of much opposition, bitter +discussion, and concerted official effort against Him.[34] The dramatic +incident of the accused woman and the conscience-stricken leaders[35] is +followed by a yet more bitter discussion and by the first passionate +attempt at stoning.[36] + +Then the incident of the man born blind but now blessedly given his +sight leads to the bitterest opposition thus far, and the casting of the +man out from all religious privileges; and is followed by the rare bit +of sheepfold and shepherd teaching.[37] These four incidents make up the +second great outstanding group of incidents, and mark the sharpest clash +and crisis thus far. + +A few months later at another Jerusalem feast called the Feast of the +Dedication, comes a second hotly impulsive riotous attempt at stoning, +and then an attempt to arrest, both foiled by the restraint of Jesus' +mere presence and personal power.[38] And another connecting link traces +His going away beyond the Jordan River, where the crowds gather to Him, +and are won to warm personal belief.[39] + +Another little gap of a few months passed over in silence, brings the +narrative to the _third_ and last _chief group of incidents_ in this +part of the book, and so leads immediately up to the great final events +of the whole book. + +The illness and death of Lazarus draws Jesus back to a suburb of +Jerusalem, Bethany. Then the stupendous incident of the raising of +Lazarus leads to the official decision to put Jesus to death.[40] And a +connecting link of verses tells of Jesus' cautious withdrawal, of the +inquiring crowds coming to the approaching Passover, and of the public +notice given that Jesus was under official condemnation.[41] + +It is at the home feast given in Bethany as a tribute of love to Jesus +that Judas, coldly criticizing a warm act of tender love, and gently +rebuked by Jesus, gets into that bad heat of temper out of which came +the foul bargaining and betrayal.[42] Another brief connecting link lets +us see the crowds more eagerly inquiring for Jesus because of the +raising of Lazarus, and the determined priests coolly plotting Lazarus' +death, too.[43] + +Then comes Jesus' faithful open offer of Himself in kingly fashion to +the nation, with the tremendous enthusiasm of the multitudes, and the +hardening of the official purpose to do the one thing that will offset +this wild-fire enthusiasm.[44] + +And then comes the apparently simple, but in meaning tremendous, +incident of the inquiring Greeks. The Jew door is slamming shut, but the +outside door is opening. Here the whole world opens its door, its front +door, in these Greek representatives of the best culture the earth knew. +But Jesus' vision never blurs. He understands; He alone. The only route +to Greece and the whole outer world is the underground route, the way +through Joseph's tomb. + +And as the intense spirit-struggle passes, Jesus quietly goes on with +His searching appealing talk to the crowd, and then slips away into +hiding till His hour had full come.[45] And with breaking heart John +sadly recalls Isaiah's wondrous foresight of just these days and +events.[46] These are the four incidents in this third chief group. + +And so the door shuts. The wooing ceases. This bit of John's story is +done. The evidence is all in. The case is made up. The nation's door to +its King shuts. The Lover's wooing of the nation ceases. John turns to a +new chapter. No further evidence is brought forward. The case rests with +the jury. The door had been shutting for a good while. The inside +door-keepers had been pulling it hard. But the great Man outside had His +hand on the knob delaying the shutting process, in the earnest hope that +it yet might be quite stopped. Now His hand reluctantly loosens its +hold. The knob is free. The inside pull does its work. The door goes to +with a vigorous slam. + +The wooing is not _wholly_ done. There is still the indirect, the tacit +wooing. There's still opportunity. All through that fateful night from +Gethsemane's gate, to the last word at Pilate's seat the Lover is +wooing. But it is wooing by action, by presence, by yielding. No +pleading word is spoken. The direct wooing is done. Tender, earnest, +insistent, patient, tremendous, irresistible in itself save to those who +willed to resist anything and everything no matter what or +whom,--wondrous wooing it has been. Now it's over. That chapter is done. + + + +Way-marks in John's Narrative. + + +Out of this simple running account several things sift themselves, and +stand out to our eyes. The action of the story swings chiefly _about +Jerusalem_. The other parts seem but background to make Jerusalem stand +out big. In this John's Gospel differs radically from the other three. +They are absorbed chiefly with the tireless gracious Galilean ministry +of Jesus, till the last great events force them to Jerusalem. + +And the reason is plain. Jerusalem is Israel. It is the nation. Jesus is +wooing the _nation_ through its leaders. Why? For the nation's sake? for +Israel's sake? Yes and no. Because these Jews were favourites of God? +Distinctly _no_, though so highly favoured they had been in the wondrous +mission entrusted to them. But because Israel was the gateway to a world +Yes, for Israel's sake. _Through_ this gateway, so carefully prepared +when every other gate was closing, _through_ this out to a world--this +was the plan of action. And this will yet be found to be the plan. +Through a Jewish gateway the King will one day go out to touch His +world. This is the geography of John's story. + +The action of the story swirls largely, too, about the great national +feasts, the Passovers, the Tabernacles or harvest-home feast of the +autumn, and one called "the Dedication," not elsewhere spoken of. To +these came great crowds of pilgrim Jews from all quarters of the world, +speaking many languages beside their national Hebrew, giving large +business, especially to money-brokers and traders in the animals and +birds used in the sacrifices. That classical Pentecost Chapter of Acts +gives the wide range of countries and of languages represented by these +pilgrim thousands. These feasts are the central occasions of John's +story. + +_The time_ begins with John's preaching in the Jordan bottoms and +reaches up practically to the evening of the betrayal. It is commonly +reckoned three and a half years. That is, there are some months before +that first Passover, and then the events run through and up to the +fourth Passover, reckoning the unnamed feast of chapter five as a +Passover. This is the chronology of John's Gospel. John's Gospel gives +the only clue to the length of Jesus' ministry. + +There are three groups _of persons_. There are _the Jews_. That is one +of John's distinctive phrases. By it he means as a rule the official +leaders of the nation, whom in common with the other writers he also +designates by their party names, Pharisees, Scribes, Chief Priests, and +so on. Among these the name of Caiaphas stands out, and later Annas. + +Then there are _the crowds_, the masses of people that flock together in +any new stirring movement. There are Galilean crowds, feast-time crowds +including the great numbers of foreign pilgrim Jews, city crowds, and +country crowds. They gather to John's preaching. They gather in great +numbers in Jerusalem, and on the Galilean visits. They are easily +impressionable, swayed by subtle crowd-contagion, stirred up and played +upon cunningly by the opposition leaders. + +They appeal greatly to Jesus, like unshepherded sheep. And the sick and +needy ones, so numerous, draw out His pity and warm touch and healing +power. They believe quickly, and almost as quickly are turned away and +desert the cause they had so quickly and warmly rallied to. Fickle, +unthoughtful, easily-swayed, needy crowds, but with the thoughtful ones +and groups here and there who are really helped and who stick. These +crowds are always in evidence. + +And there are _the disciples_. There is the inner group of chosen ones +who companion with Jesus, sharing His bread and bed, and close witnesses +of His gracious spirit and unfailing power, with impulsive heady Peter +and faithful steady John always nearest by. What a schooling all this +was for them! And there are other disciples, not of this picked circle, +but on most intimate personal terms with the Master, some of them, like +thoughtful cautious Nicodemus, like the Bethany group of three, and Mary +the Magdalene. And there is the larger, looser, changing body of +disciples, mingling with the crowds, sometimes deserting, but no doubt +with many thoughtful devoted ones among them. These are the leading +persons figuring in John's story, grouped about the person of Jesus. + +But these are simply interesting incidentals giving local colouring to +John's story. We pass by them quickly now to a few things that take +great hold of one's heart, that stand out biggest, and give the real +action of life to the story. + + + +Tapestry Threads. + + +As we unravel the fabric of John's Gospel there are three threads that +stand out by reason of the distinctness of their colours. There's a +thread of clear decided blue. There's a dark ugly black thread that +gets blacker as it weaves itself farther in. And then there's a bright +yellow glory-colour thread that shines with brighter lustre as the black +gets blacker. + +Trace the blue first, the thread of a simple glad acceptance of Jesus, +and trust in Him. It deepens in its fine shading of blue as you follow +it, true blue, the colour true hearts wear. From the very first Jesus is +accepted by some, by many. And this continues steadily through to the +very last. Some doors open at once to Him. Then under the influence of +His presence and gentle resistless power they open wide, and then wider. + +It is fascinating to trace the simply told story of growing faith, until +one's own faith gets clearer and steadier and has more warm glow to it. +To adapt Tennyson's fine lines, as knowledge grows from more to more +there dwells in us more of the deep tender reverence of love, until all +the powers of mind and spirit chord into one symphony of unending music. +And the wheels of our common life move always to its rhythmic swing. + +See how _the crowds_ crowd to Jesus, and open up to the appeal of His +words and acts and presence. Many of the pilgrim crowds of that first +Passover believe, impressed by Jesus' spirit of helpfulness and His +unusual power.[47] And the Galileans among them give Him warm welcome as +He comes up into their country.[48] It is a great multitude that follows +eagerly up on the east coast of the Galilean sea, hail Him as the +long-expected prophet of their nation, talk of plans for making Him +their King, and earnestly cry out, "Lord, evermore give us this (true) +bread."[49] + +Even in the midst of the bickering discussions at the Tabernacles Feast +many of the multitude believed on Him, some as the long-talked-of +prophet, some as the very Christ Himself.[50] And as He talks to His +critics of His purpose always to please the Father, still others are +drawn in heart to Him and believe.[51] And at this same time, as the +criticism gets uglier, many make bold to speak out on His behalf[52] +though it was getting to be a dangerous thing to do. As He feels +compelled to withdraw from the tense atmosphere of Jerusalem, and goes +away into the country districts beyond the Jordan the people come +flocking to Him with open hearts.[53] + +The Lazarus incident made inroads into the upper circles of Jerusalem, +many of the influential social class with whom these dear Bethany +friends seem on close terms, and who had been out there during those +stirring days, believe on Jesus, and many of the common people, too, are +won by that occurrence.[54] That tremendous raising of Lazarus had much +to do with the great acclaim of the multitudes as Jesus rode into +Jerusalem on the kingly colt.[55] + +It is without doubt a sincere homage that these multitudes from far and +near, and the home crowds, render, with their palm branches and +garment-strewn roads, and spontaneous outburst of joyous song.[56] And +now as John put his bit of a knotted summary on the end of this part of +his story, he points out that even among the members of the Jewish +Senate there were many real believers.[57] + +But a crowd is a strange complex thing. It doesn't know itself. It's +easily swept along to do as a crowd what would never be done by each one +off by himself. And this works in good ways as well as in bad. Jesus +drew the crowds and was drawn by them. He couldn't withstand the pull of +the crowd. The lure of its intense need was irresistible to Him. Yet He +knew crowds rarely. + +He was never blinded by their enthusiasm. His keen insight saw under the +surface, though it never held Him critically back from helping. He +quickly notes that the belief of those first Passover crowds has not +reached the dependable stage.[58] He is never held back from showing the +red marks in the road to be trodden even though many of His disciples +balk at going farther on such a road, and some turn away to an easier +road,[59] so revealing an utter lack of the real thing. And even where +there's real faith of the sincere sort it is yet sometimes not of the +seasoned sort that can stand the storms.[60] + +These crowds seem of close kin to more modern crowds. One touch of a +crowd rubs out centuries of difference and shows one family blood in us +all. Yet keep things poised. It was out of these crowds that there came +the disciples and close friends to whom we now turn. There's gold in the +crowds, finest twenty-four carat gold. It's all a matter of mining. +Skilful mining gets out the gold. This wondrous Lover used the +magnetic-current method of mining, the love-current. The strong warm +current, the fine personal spirit current, drew out to Him the fine +grains of gold in these human crowds. + + + +Growing Faith. + + +Now we climb the hill where _the disciples_ are. The crowds are in the +bottom-lands. Many have started up the hill. Jesus always woos men +uphill. You can always tell a man by where he is standing, bottom-land, +hillside, higher-hill-slope, hilltop. We turn now from the crowds that +believed to those whose personal acceptance of Jesus drew them into the +inner circle. + +The first three incidents trace the beginnings of faith in those first +close disciples who came to be numbered among the picked inner +twelve.[61] The first story is one of the rarest of John's many rare +stories. It is characteristic of the real thing of faith that beginning +with two they quickly number five. The attachment of the two to John, +the Witness, reveals them as of the earnest inquiring sort, after the +very best. John never forgot that talk with Jesus in the gathering +twilight by the Jordan. It sends Andrew out for Peter, and John likely +for James, while the Master gets Philip, and he in turn Nathaniel. That +reveals the real stuff of faith. It has a mind whose questionings have +been satisfied, a heart that catches fire, and feet that hasten +out-of-doors for others. That's the real thing. + +Their faith takes deeper root at Cana. A new personal experience of +Jesus' power is a great deepener of faith, the great deepener. This is +the only pathway from faith to a deeper realer sturdier faith. A man can +get a deeper faith only by walking on his own feet where Jesus leads. + +Their faith grows imperceptibly but by leaps and bounds. It grows down +deeper and so up stronger and out farther by their _companionship with +Jesus_ through those brief packed years. What a school that was! the +school of companionship with Jesus, with lessons daily, but the chiefest +lesson the Teacher Himself. What a school it _is_! The only one for +learning the real thing of faith: still open: pupils received at any +time. + +If we would shut our eyes and go with them as they company with Jesus +through those wondrous days and events and experiences we may get some +hold on how their faith grew. They actually saw the handful of loaves +and fishes grow in their hands until thousands were fed. Their own eyes +saw Jesus walking on the water. + +It was out of their very hearts that they cry out through Peter's lips +in answer to Jesus' pathetic pleading question and say, "To whom shall +we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life."[62] And without doubt +Thomas acts as spokesman for all when Jesus announced His intention of +returning to the danger zone, and Thomas sturdily says, "Let us _also_ +go, that we may die with Him."[63] + +But you are thinking of that terrible break of theirs on the betrayal +night, are you? Well, perhaps if we call to mind with what an utter +shock the events of that terrific twenty four hours came, intensified +the more by the unexpectedness and the suddenness of it; and then +if--perhaps--we may call to mind the more recent behaviour of some +modern disciples who have had enormous advantages over them in regard to +that terrific experience it may chasten our feelings a bit and soften +the edge of our thought about them. + +But dear faithful John never faltered. We must always love him for that. +How humiliating for us if not even one had stood that test. And how +their after-contact with John must have affected the others. John pulled +the others back and up. And how their faith so sorely chastened and +tested came to its fine seasoned strength afterwards. + +These very events of the early days now come back with new meaning to +them. Jesus' words at the temple cleansing, and the kingly entry into +Jerusalem, shine now in a new light and give new strength to their +faith.[64] But John himself brings us back to this again in that long +talk of the betrayal night. So we leave it now. But blue is a good +colour for the eyes. It reveals great beauty in the bit of +tapestry-pattern John is weaving for us to trace these true blue +threadings. + +But there's more here, much more, that adds greatly to the pattern. +There are faithful disciples _and precious intimate friendships_ outside +the circle of these future leaders. Take only a moment for these as we +push on. + +There's that night visitor of the early Jerusalem days. Aristocrat, +ruler, scholar, with all the supercautiousness that these qualities +always grain in, Nicodemus actually left the inner circle of +temple-rulers who were as sore to the touch as a boil over John's +drastic cleansing, and comes for a personal interview. His utter +sincerity is shown in the temper of his remarks and questions, and shown +yet more in the openness of Jesus' spirit in talking with him. For this +is a trait in Jesus' dealings,--openness when He finds an opening door. +It _must_ be so, then and now. He can open up only where there is an +opening up to Him. Openness warms and loosens. The reverse chills and +locks up.[65] + +It is in another just such situation but far more acute, that this man +speaks out for Jesus in an official meeting of these same rulers. +Timidly? have you thought, cautiously? Yet he spoke out when no one else +did, though others there believed in Jesus. A really rare courage it was +that told of a growing faith.[66] And the personal devotion side of his +faith, evidence again of the real thing, stands out to our eyes as we +see him bring the unusual gift of very costly ointments for the +precious body of his personal friend.[67] It's a winsome story, this of +Nicodemus. May there be many a modern duplicate of it. + +In utter social contrast stands the next bit of this sort following so +hard that the contrast strikes you at once. It's a half-breed Samaritan +this time, and a woman, and an openly bad life. The Samaritans were +hated by Jew and Gentile alike as belonging to neither, ground between +the two opposing social national millstones. Womanhood was debased and +held down in the way all too familiar always and everywhere. And a moral +outcast ranks lowest in influence. + +But true love discerns the possible lily in the black slime bulb at the +pond's bottom and woos it into blossoming flower, till its purity and +beauty greet our delighted eyes. Under the simple tact of love's true +touch, out of such surroundings grows a faith, through the successive +stages of gossipy curiosity, cynical remark, interest, eagerness, guilty +self-consciousness that would avoid any such personal conversation, out +and out comes a faith that means a changed life, and then earnest +bringing of others till the whole village acclaims Jesus a Saviour, +_the_ Saviour. + +And the very title they apply to Jesus reveals as by a flash-light the +chief personal meaning the interview had for this outcast woman. In one +way her faith meant more than Nicodemus', for it meant a radical change +of outer life with her. And many a one stops short of that, though the +real thing never does, and can't.[68] + +Then the circle widens yet more, geographically. Jew, Samaritan, it is a +_Roman_ this time, one of the conquering nation under whose iron heel +the nation writhes restlessly. He is of gentle birth and high official +position. It is his sense of acute personal need that draws him to +Jesus. The child of his love is slipping from his clinging but helpless +grasp. + +There's the loose sort of hearsay groping faith that turns to Jesus in +desperation. Things can't be worse, and possibly there might be help. +There's the very different faith that looks Jesus in the face and hears +the simple word of assurance so quietly spoken. He actually heard the +word spoken about _his_ dying darling, "_thy son liveth_." + +Then there is that wondrous new sort of faith whose sharper hooks of +steel enter and take hold of your very being as you actually +_experience_ the power of Jesus in a way wholly new to you. As it came +to his keenly awakened mind that the favourable turn had come at the +very moment Jesus uttered those quiet words, and then as he looked into +the changed face of his recovering child, he became a changed man. The +faith in Jesus was a part of his being. The two could never be put +asunder. So the Roman world brought its grateful tribute of acceptance +to this great wooing brooding Lover. The wooing had won again. + +And now there's another extreme social turnabout in the circle that +feels the power of Jesus' wooing. We turned from Jerusalem aristocrat to +Samaritan outcast; now it's from gentle Roman official to a beggaring +pauper. It is at the Tabernacles' visit. Jesus, quietly masterfully +passing out from the thick of the crowd that would stone Him, noticed a +blind ragged beggar by the roadway. One of those speculative questions +that are always pushing in, and that never help any one is asked: "Who's +to blame here?" + +With His characteristic intense practicality Jesus quietly pushes the +speculative question aside with a broken sentence, a sentence broken by +His action as He begins helping the man. In effect He says, "Neither +this man nor his parents are immediately to blame; the thing goes +farther back. But"--and He reaches down and begins to make the soft clay +with His spittle--"_the_ thing is to see the power of God at work to +help." And the touch is given and the testing command to wash, and then +eyes that see for the first time. + +But the one thing that concerns us now in this great ninth chapter is +the faith that was so warmly wooed up out of nothing to a thing of +courageous action and personal devotion to Jesus. It is fairly +fascinating to watch the man move from birth-blind hopelessness through +clay-anointed surprise and wonder and Siloam-walking expectancy on to +water-washing eyesight. + +It is yet more fascinating to see his spirit move up in the language he +uses, from "the _man_ called Jesus," and the cautious but blunt "I don't +know about His being a sinner, but I know I can _see_," on to the +bolder "clearly not a sinner but a man in reverent touch with God +Himself." + +Then the yet bolder, "a man _from God_," brings the break with the +dreaded authorities which branded him before all as an outcast and as a +damned soul. And then the earnest reverent cry "Who is He, Lord, that I +may believe?" reveals the yearning purpose of his own heart. And then +the great climax comes in the heart cry, "Lord, I believe, I believe +Thee to be the very Son of God." + +And the outcast of the rulers casts in his lot with Jesus and begins at +once living the eternal quality of life which goes on endlessly. What a +day for him from hopeless blindness of body and heart to eyesight that +can see Jesus' face and know Him as his Saviour and Lord! Growth of +faith clearly is not limited to the counting of hours. It waits only on +one's walking out fully into all the light that comes, no matter where +it may lead your steps. + + + +The Bethany Height of Faith. + + +The Bethany story is one of the tenderest of all. It touches the +heights. It's a hilltop story, both in its setting amidst the Bethany +blue hills where it grew up, and in the height of faith it records. It +has personal friendship and love of Jesus and implicit trust in Him as +its starting point. And from this it reaches up to levels unknown +before. Faith touches high water here. It rises to flood, a flood that +sweeps mightily through the valleys of doubt and questionings all around +about. + +At the beginning there is faith in Jesus of the tender, personal sort. +At the close there's faith that He will actually meet the need of your +life and circumstance _without limit_. The highest faith is this: +connecting Jesus' power and love with the actual need of your life. +Abraham believed God with full sincerity that covenant-making night +under the dark sky. But he didn't connect his faith in God with his need +and danger among the Philistines.[69] Peter believed in Jesus fully but +his faith and his action failed to connect when the sore test came that +Gethsemane night. + +The Bethany pitch of faith makes connections. It ties our God and our +need and our action into one knot. This is the pith of this whole story. +Jesus' one effort in His tactful patient wooing is to get Martha up to +the point of ordering that stone aside. He got her faith into touch with +the gravestone of her sore need. Her faith and her action connected. +That told her expectancy. Creeds are best understood when they're acted. +Moving the stone was her confession of faith. _Not_ that Jesus was the +Son of God. That was settled long before. + +No: it meant this--that the Son of God was now actually going to _act as +Son of God_ to meet her need. Under His touch her dead brother was going +to live. The deadness that broke her heart would give way under Jesus' +touch. The Bethany faith doesn't believe that God _can_ do what you +need, merely. It believes that He _will_ do it And so the stone's taken +away that He _may_ do it. God has our active consent. Are we up on the +Bethany level? Has God our active consent to do all He would? Is our +faith being lived, acted out? + +And the feast of grateful tribute that followed has an exquisite added +touch. The faith that lets God into one's life to meet its needs gets +clearer eyesight. Acted faith affects the spirit vision. There is a +spirit sensitiveness that recognizes God and discerns how things will +turn out. + +Notice Jesus' words about Mary's act of anointing. There is a singularly +significant phrase in it. "Let her _keep it_ against (or in view of) the +day of My burying." "Keep it" is the striking phrase. What does that +mean? We speak of _keeping_ a day, as Christmas, meaning to hallow the +memories for which it stands. "Keep it" here seems to mean that. Let her +keep a memorial. Yet it would be a memorial _in advance_ of the event +remembered and hallowed. + +It seems to suggest that Mary thus discerned the outcome for Jesus of +the coming crisis, and more, its great significance. The disciples +expected Jesus' power to overcome all opposition. She alone sensed what +was coming, His death and its tremendous spirit-meaning. And it is +possible that the raising of her brother helped her to sense ahead +another raising. For there is no mention of her at the tomb, as would +otherwise have been most natural. + +Her simple love-lit faith could _see_, and could see _beyond_ to the +final outcome. This is the story of the Bethany faith, faith at flood. +This highest simplest truest faith, that had come in answer to Jesus' +patient persistent wooing for it, opens the way for the greatest use of +His power on record. + +There's one story more in this true-blue faith list. It is the story of +the Greeks. At first it seems not to belong in here. There is no mention +made of the faith of these men nor of their acceptance of Jesus. But the +more you think into it the more it seems that here is its true place, +and that this is why John brings it in, not simply to show how the +outside world was reaching for Jesus, but to show the inner spirit of +these men towards Jesus. + +Whether the term _Greeks_ is used in the looser sense for the +Greek-speaking Jews,[70] or for non-Jewish foreigners, or, as I think +most likely, in the meaning of men of Grecian blood, residents of +Greece, the significance is practically the same, it was the outer world +coming to Jesus. These had come a long journey to do homage to the true +God at Jerusalem. Their presence reveals their spirit. + +They were eye and ear-witnesses of the stirring events of those last +days in Jerusalem. The stupendous story of the raising of the man out in +the Bethany suburb was the talk of the city. And then there was that +intense scene of the kingly entry into the city amid the acclaiming +multitudes. They knew of the official opposition, and the public +proclamation against Jesus. They breathed the Jerusalem air. That put +them in touch with the whole situation. + +Now notice keenly they seek a personal interview with Jesus. This is the +practical outcome of the situation _to them_. It reminds one of that +other man, under similar conditions though less intense, at an earlier +stage, cautiously seeking a night interview. Their desire tells not +curiosity but earnestness, and the very earnestness reveals both purpose +and attitude towards Jesus. + +And this is made the plainer by the very words they use as they seek out +the likeliest man of the Master's inner circle to secure the coveted +interview. They say, "Sir, _we would see Jesus_." The whole story of +conviction, of earnestness, of decision, is in that tremendous little +word "would." It was their will, their deliberate choice, to come into +personal relations with this Man of whom they were hearing so much. + +And it seems like a direct allusion to that tremendous word, and an +answer to it, when Jesus, in effect, in meaning, says, "if any man +_would_ follow Me." Both the coming under such circumstances, and the +form of the request, seem to tell the attitude of these men towards +Jesus and their personal purpose regarding Him. It would be altogether +likely that they accompany Philip as he seeks out Andrew. It would be +the natural thing. And so they are with Philip and Andrew as they come +to tell Jesus. + +Then this would be the setting of these memorable intense words that +Jesus now utters.[71] He senses at once the request and the earnest +purpose of these men seeking Him out. It is for them especially that +these words are spoken. And if, as some thoughtful scholars think, Jesus +spake here, not in His native Aramaic, but in the Greek tongue, it gives +colouring to the supposition. The intense earnestness of His words, and +the revealing of the intense struggle within His spirit as He breathes +out the simple prayer,--all this is a tacit recognition of the spirit of +these Greeks. + +The parallel is striking with the Nicodemus interview where no direct +mention is made of the faith that later events showed was unquestionably +there. It seems like another of those silences of John that are so full +of meaning.[72] And the silence seems, as with Nicodemus, to mean the +acquiescence of the inquirers in the message they hear. + +This then would seem to be the reply to the request. They have indeed +seen Jesus. And they accept it and Him, as most likely they linger +through the Passover-days at hand and then turn their faces homeward. +And so the warm wooing has drawn out this warm response from the +cultured Greek world. + +So we trace the blue thread in John's tapestry picture, the true faith +that is drawn out from nothing to little and more and much and most, +under the warmth of the brooded wooing of this great Lover. + + + +The Ugly Thread in the Weaving. + + +Now for that ugly dark thread, the opposition to, the rejection of, the +Lover's wooing. But we'll not linger here. We've been seeing so much of +this thread as we traced the other and studied the whole. Ugly things +stand out by reason of their very ugliness. This stands out in gloomy +disturbing contrast with all the rest. A brief quick tracing will fully +answer our present purpose. And then we can hasten on to the dominating +figure in the pattern. + +The opposition begins with silent rejection, moves by steady stages, +growing ever intenser clear up to the murderous end. The sending of the +committee to the Jordan to examine John and report on him was an +official recognition of his power. The questions asked raise the +possibility clearly being discussed of John being the promised prophet, +or Elijah, or even the Christ Himself, and this is an expression of the +national expectancy. The utter silence with which John's witness to +Jesus is met is most striking.[73] Its significance is spoken of by both +Jesus and John.[74] + +The intensity of the resentment over the cleansing of the temple-area +can be almost felt rising up out of the very page, in the critical +questions and cynical comment of the Jews. One can easily see all the +bitterness of their hate tracking its slimy footprints out of that +cleansed courtyard.[75] + +The cunning discussion among the great Jordan crowds about the purifying +rite of baptism, stirred up so successfully by "_a Jew_," that is, +probably by one of the Jerusalem leaders, would seem to be a studied +attempt to discredit the two preachers, Jesus and John, and swing the +crowds away. It was shrewdly done and might have dissipated the fine +spiritual atmosphere by bitter strife and discussion had not Jesus +quietly slipped away.[76] + +This attitude of theirs is clearly recognized and felt by Jesus. He +plainly points out that vulgarizing hurt of sin whereby God's own +messenger is not recognized when He comes in the garb of a +neighbour.[77] + +Then things get more acute. The blessed healing of a +thirty-eight-year-old infirmity leads to outspoken persecution, to a +desire and purpose actually to kill Jesus. It grew intenser as Jesus' +claim grew clearer. The issue was sharply drawn. He "called God _His own +Father_, making Himself _equal with God_." They begin plotting His +death.[78] + +His prudent absence from Jerusalem at the time of the next Passover +reveals graphically how tense the opposition had gotten. But even up by +Galilee's shores they have messengers at work amongst the crowds +exciting discussion and discontent and worse. In the discussion it is +easy to pick out the two elements, the nagging critics and the earnest +seekers. And the saddening result is seen in many disciples leaving +Jesus and going back again to their old way.[79] + +Then things got so intense that Jesus' habit of life was broken or +changed. He could no longer frequent Judea as He had done, but kept +pretty much to the northern province of Galilee. The settled plan to +kill made His absence a matter of common prudence. This makes most +striking His great courage in going up to Jerusalem at the autumn Feast +of Tabernacles. He quietly arrived in the midst of much rumour and hot +discussion about Himself, and begins teaching the crowds openly, to the +great amazement of many. + +At once begin the wordy critical attacks, egged on probably by the +warmth with which many receive Jesus' teachings. There are three +attempts to take Him by force, including an official attempt at arrest. +But, strangely enough, the very officers sent to arrest are so impressed +by Jesus' teaching that they return with their mission not done, to the +intensest disgust and rage of their superiors.[80] + +Early on the morning following there's a cunning coarse attempt to +entrap Him into saying something that can be used against Him. A woman +is brought accused of wrong-doing of the gravest sort, and His opinion +is asked as to the proper punishment for so serious an offense. There's +nothing more dramatic in Scripture than the withdrawal of these +accusers, one by one, actually conscience-stricken in the presence of +the few simple words of this wondrous Man.[81] + +This is followed by the intensest give-and-take of discussion thus far, +in which they give vent to their bitterest degree of vile language in +calling Him "a Samaritan," and accusing Him of being possessed with "a +demon." And then the terrible climax is reached in the enraged +passionate attempt of stoning. It is the worst yet to which their +fanatical rage has gone.[82] + +Now they reach out to intimidate the multitude, by threatening to cut +off from religious and civic privileges all who would confess belief in +Jesus as Christ. And their spleen vents its rage on the man born blind +but now so wondrously given sight of two sorts.[83] + +The winter Feast of the Dedication a few months later finds Jesus back +again in Jerusalem teaching. And again their enraged attempt at stoning, +the second one, is restrained by a something in Him they can neither +understand nor withstand.[84] + +The Lazarus incident arouses their opposition to the highest pitch.[85] +This is recognized as a crisis. Such power had never been seen or known. +The inroads of belief are everywhere, in the upper social circles, among +the old families, even in the Jewish Senate itself, notwithstanding the +threatened excommunication. On every hand men are believing. Things are +getting desperate for these leaders. They determine to use all the +authority at hand arbitrarily and with a high hand. What strange +blindness of stubborn self-will to such open evidence of power! + +A special meeting of the Jewish Senate is held, not unlikely hastily +summoned of those not infected with belief. And there it is officially +determined to put Jesus to death, and serve public notice that any one +knowing of His whereabouts must report their information to the +authorities. + +And as the incoming crowds thicken for the Passover, and the talk about +Lazarus is on every tongue, it is determined to put Lazarus to death, +too. This is the pitch things have risen to as John brings this part of +his story to a close. + + + +The Glory-Coloured Thread. + + +It is a relief to turn now to the chief figure in this tapestried +picture of John's weaving. Here are glory-coloured threads of bright +yellow. They easily stand out, thrown in relief both by the pleasing +blues and the disturbing blacks. It is the figure of the Man on the +errand, intent on His wooing, absorbed in His great task. Thia Man, His +tremendous wooing, wins glad grateful ever-growing acceptance. And with +rarest boldness and courage He persists in His wooing in spite of the +terrific intensifying opposition. + +The gentle softening dew persists in distilling even on the hardest +stoniest soil. The _gentle winsomeness of the wooing_ stands out +appealingly as one goes through those fragments of teaching talks +running throughout. The rare faithfulness of it to the nation and its +leaders is thrown into bold relief by the very opposition that reveals +their dire spiritual plight and their sore need. + +The _power of it_ is simply stupendous. As gentle in action as the +falling dew it grows in intensity until neither the gates of death nor +even the stubborn resistance of a human will can prevail against it. It +is power sufficient to satisfy the most critical search, and to make +acceptance not only possible with one's reasoning power in fullest +exercise but the rational thing. + +Look a bit at the power at work here. For in looking at the power we are +getting a better look at the Man, and at the purpose that grips Him. Of +the nineteen incidents in these twelve chapters fifteen give exhibitions +of power. It is of two sorts, power over the human will, and miraculous +power. + +Eight incidents reveal _power working upon the human will_. In three of +these--Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, the accused sinful woman--the +will becomes pliant and is radically changed, so morally affecting the +whole life. In five--the temple cleansing, at the Tabernacles Feast, the +first and second attempt at stoning, and the kingly entry into the +city--the human will is stubbornly aggressively antagonistic to Jesus, +but is absolutely restrained from what it is fully set upon doing. + +In the other seven incidents the power is _miraculous_ or supernatural. +In three--turning the water into wine, multiplying food supplies, +walking on the water--it is power in _the realm of nature_. In +four--healing the Roman nobleman's son, the thirty-eight-year +infirmity, giving sight to the man born blind, and the raising of +Lazarus--it is power in _the realm of the body_, radically changing its +conditions. + +It will help to remember what those words _miraculous_ and +_supernatural_ mean. Miraculous means something wonderful, that is, +something filling us with wonder because it is so unusual. Supernatural +means something above the usual natural order. The two words are +commonly taken as having one meaning. Neither word means something +contrary to nature, of course, but simply on a higher level than the +ordinary workings of nature with which we are familiar. The action is in +accord with some higher law in God's world which is brought into play +and is seen to be superior to the familiar laws. + +But the power, or the man that can call this higher law into action, is +of a higher order. There is revealed an intimacy of acquaintance with +these higher laws, and even more a power that can command and call them +into action down in the sphere of our common ordinary life, until we +stare in wonder. This is really the remarkable thing. Not supernatural +action itself simply, tremendous as that is, but the man in such touch +with higher power as to be able to call out the action, and to command +it at will. + +This is one of the things that marks Jesus off so strikingly from other +holy men. There are miracles in the Old Testament and in the Book of +Acts. But there's an abundance and a degree of power in Jesus' miracles +outclassing all others. It is fascinating and awesome to watch the +growth of power in these movements of Jesus. It is as though He woos +more persistently in the very degree and variety of power that He uses +so freely, and with such apparent ease. + +Which calls out greater power, creating or healing? making water into +wine or healing bodily ailment? Which is the greater, power in the realm +of nature or the body? _or_ in the realm of the human will? multiplying +food _or_ changing a human will? Which is greater, to induce a man +voluntarily to change his course of action, _or_ to restrain him (by +moral power only, not by force) from doing something he is dead-set on +doing? + +This is the range through which Jesus' action runs in these fifteen +incidents. Is there a growth in the power revealed? Is there an intenser +plea to these men as the story goes on? Is there a steady piling up of +evidence in the wooing of their hearts? + +Well, creating is bringing into material being what didn't so exist +before. Healing does something more. It creates new tissue, makes new or +different adjustments and conditions, _and_ it overcomes the opposite, +the broken tissue, the diseased conditions, the weakness, the tendency +towards decay and death. Clearly there's a greater task in healing, and +a greater power at work, or more power, or power revealed more. + +Then, too, of course, the human is above the physical. Man is higher +than nature. He is the lord of creation. It is immensely more to affect +a human will than to affect conditions in nature. The whole thing moves +up to a measureless higher level. And clearly enough it is a less +difficult task to enlighten and persuade one who seeks the light, and to +woo up one who is simply carelessly indifferent, than it is to overcome +and restrain a will that is dead-set against you and is bitterly set on +an opposite course. + +Of course, all of this is not commonly so recognized. It seems immensely +more to heal the body than to change a man's course of action, or, at +least, it appeals immensely more to the imagination. The man who can +heal is magnified in our eyes above the other. The miraculous always +seems the greater. It is more unusual. Stronger wills are influencing +others daily. That's a commonplace. Bodily healing is rare. And all the +world is ill. Things are ripe to have such power seize upon the +imagination then and always. + +And then, too, there are interlacings here of things we see and things +we don't see. There is the element of the use of the human will in all +miraculous action, whether in nature or among men. Behind both nature's +forces and human forces are unseen spirit personalities, both evil and +good. The real battle of our human life lies there in the spirit realm. +Victory there means full victory in the realm of nature and of human +lives. There is a devil with hosts of spirit attendants. The wilderness +was a spirit-conflict of terrific intensity, ending in Jesus' +unqualified victory. + +Jesus' power was more than simply creative, or healing, or over human +wills. It was the power of a pure, strong, surrendered will having the +mastery over a giant, unsurrendered, God-defiant will. This underlies +all else. But we've run off a bit. Come back to the simple story, and +see how the power of Jesus is revealed more and more before their eyes. +And in seeing the faithfulness and winsomeness of His power, see His +wooing. + + + +Intenser Wooing. + + +A look at the _miraculous_ power first. The turning of the water into +wine was simple creative power at work, creating in the liquid the added +constituents that made it wine. The healing of the nobleman's son rises +to a higher level. The power overcomes diseased weakened conditions and +creates new life in the parts affected. + +The healing of a thirty-eight year old infirmity rises yet higher in the +scale of power seen at work. The Roman's child was an acute case; this +an extreme chronic case of long standing. The acute case of illness may +be most difficult and ticklish, demanding a quick masterful use of all +the physician's knowledge and skill. The chronic case is yet more +difficult eluding his best studied and prolonged and repeated effort. +Clearly the power at work is accomplishing more; and so it is pleading +more eloquently. + +The feeding of the five thousand is creative power simply, like the +water-wine case, but it moves up higher in the greater abundance of +power shown, the increase of quantity created, and the far greater and +intenser human need met and relieved. + +The walking on the water was an overcoming one of nature's laws, a +rising up superior to it. The universal law of gravitation would +naturally have drawn His feet through the surface of the water and His +whole body down. He overcomes this law, retaining His footing on the +water as on land. + +It was done in the night, but an Oriental community, like any country +community, anywhere, is a bulletin-board for all that happens. No detail +is omitted, and no one misses the news. And this like all these other +incidents become the common property of the nation. + +It is interesting to note in the language John uses[86] that the motive +underneath the action was not to reveal power but simply to keep an +appointment. But then Jesus never used His power to show that He had +power, but only to meet the need of the hour. Yet each exhibition of +power revealed indirectly, incidentally _who He was_. + +There is an instance similar to this in the borrowed axe-head that swam +in obedience to Elisha's touch of power to meet the need of the +distressed theological student.[87] In each instance it is the same +habit of nature that yields homage to a higher power at work. + +But though there is here no increase of power shown yet the action +itself was of the sort to appeal much more to the crowd. It has in it +the dramatic. It would appear to the crowd a yet more wonderful thing +than they had yet witnessed. + +The giving of sight to the man born blind is distinctly a long step +ahead of any healing power thus far related in John's story. There is +here not only the chronic element, but the thing is distinctly in a +class by itself, quite outclassing in the difficulty presented any case +of mere chronic infirmity. + +It was not a matter of restoring what disease had destroyed but of +supplying what nature had failed to give in its usual course. It was a +meeting of nature's lack through some slip in the adjustment of her +action in connection with human action. There is not only the appealing +dramatic element, as in the walking on the water, but the appealing +sympathetic element in that this poor man's lifelong burden is removed. + +And then the seventh and last of these, the actual raising of Lazarus up +from the dead, is a climax of power in action nothing short of +stupendous. Of the six recorded cases of the dead being raised this is +easily the greatest in the power seen at work. In the other five, in the +Elijah record,[88] the Elisha,[89] the Moabite's body at Elisha's +grave,[90] Jairus' daughter,[91] and the widow's son at Nain,[92] there +was no lapse of time involved. + +Here four days of death had intervened, until it was quite certain +beyond question that in that climate decomposition would be well +advanced. Utter human impotence and impossibility was in its last +degree. Man stands utterly powerless, utterly helpless in the presence +of death. It is not the last degree of improbability. There _is_ no +improbability. It's an _impossibility_. The thing is in a class by +itself, the hopeless class. And the four days give death its fullest +opportunity. And death never fails in grim faithfulness to opportunity. + +It is no wonder that all Jerusalem was so stirred. The common crowds of +home people and pilgrims, the aristocratic families, the inner official +circles, among _all_ classes, this tremendous event won recognition of +Jesus' power and claim, and with recognition personal faith. Nothing +like this had ever happened. This is the superlative degree of +miraculous power revealed in this matchless wooing of a faithless +nation. + + + +Love Wooing Yet More. + + +Now a look at the power at work _in the realm of the human will_, really +a higher power, or power at work in a higher realm, though not commonly +so recognized by the crowd. There are eight incidents here. And again we +shall find the steady rise of the power seen at work. Three of these +tell of the human will changed, and four of its being restrained +against its will from doing that which it was dead-set on doing. + +The ruler who withdrew from the midst of the disturbed temple managers +for a night-call upon Jesus was radically changed in his convictions and +his life-purpose. He had an open mind. The work was begun at that first +Jerusalem Passover. Under the holy spell of John's presence he is drawn +away from his enraged brother-rulers to seek the night talk. The +frankness and fullness of Jesus' talk shows plainly how open he was and +how much more he opened and yielded that evening. And the after protest +in the official meeting of the rulers, and the loving care for the body +of Jesus reveal how radical was the transformation wrought upon his will +and heart by Jesus.[93] + +The Samaritan woman is changed from utter indifference to a change of +will and purpose that makes her an eager messenger to her people until +they hail Jesus as the Saviour of the world. The change involved a +radical face-about in habit and life amongst the very people who knew +her past sinful life best. It meant more than change of conviction, that +change actually put into practice across the grain of the habits of +years, and of the lower passions, so hard to change. It is a distinct +step up from the change in Nicodemus simply because there was so much +more to change. The same power had more to do. And it did it.[94] + +The story of the woman accused of the gravest offense is a double one in +the power seen at work. She would naturally be hardened, and stony +hard, shameless to the point of hopeless indifference in moral sense, +and all this increased by their coarse publicity of her. And so little +is said, but so much suggested of a change in her. + +The purity of Jesus' face and presence would be a tremendous power of +conviction. The gentleness of His quiet question would couple softening +of heart with conviction of her sin. The word of counsel as she is +dismissed would seem a mirror reflecting the inner longing of her heart +and the new purpose stirring within, as memory recalls early days of +virgin purity, and a wild hope within struggles towards life that there +may yet be a change even for her. + +The change in her accusers is, at least, as remarkable though wholly +different. Morally hardened, as shameless and coarse as the woman as +regards a fine moral sensibility; by their own tacit confession no +better in practice than she in the point of morals raised; in their +malignant cunning only concerned with the woman's sin as a means of +venting their spleen upon the man they hated and feared,--what a hideous +spirit-photograph! + +Under the strange compelling power of Jesus' word and will, utterly +conscience-stricken at being as guilty as she in the particular item +under discussion, they turn, one by one, and slink softly out, until the +last one is gone. As an instance of one will controlling and changing +another will wholly against its will to the point of forcing out +confession of personal guilt, it is most remarkable. One wonders if, +under that tremendous conviction of personal sin, some of these were +later included in those of the Sanhedrin who openly accepted Jesus. It +is quite possible. It is not improbable.[95] + +The fact is noted that the very language used here under the English +indicates a different authorship of the incident than John's. Possibly a +thoughtful delicacy of regard for the woman restrains John's pen if she +were still living as he writes. And then later the Holy Spirit, who so +tactfully restrains John's pen, guides another to fit the remarkable +story in its place in the record. + +The drastic turning of bargaining cattle-dealers and bickering +money-brokers, out of the temple-area, and restoring it from a barn-yard +to a place of holy worship, is a most remarkable illustration of +_restraint upon antagonistic wills_ at the point of their greatest +concern. These leaders would gladly have turned _Him_ out. + +And who was He, this man with flashing eye and quiet stern word? A +stranger, unknown, from the despised country district of Galilee. And +they have authority, law-officers, everything of the sort on their side. +Yet the restraint of His presence and will over them is as absolute as +though they were in chains. They weakly ask for a sign and evidence of +power. They themselves experienced the most tremendous exhibition of +power the old temple-area had known for generations.[96] + +The power of restraint at the Feast of Tabernacles is yet greater. Or +it might be more accurate to say that it is a greater antagonism that is +restrained by the same power. They are fully prepared now. The cleansing +incident took them unawares. It made them gasp to think that any one +would dare oppose them like that. + +Now they are on guard. Then, too, their antagonism has intensified and +embittered to the point of plotting His death. And they have grown more +openly aggressive. There are three attempts at His arrest. Yet that +strange noiseless power of restraint is upon them. They do not do as +they would. Clearly they cannot. They are restrained. The man whose +presence so aroused, also held them in check, apparently without +thinking about it. His _presence_ is a restraint.[97] + +Then a second clash of wills comes a day or so later. Their opposition +is yet intenser. There has been no cooling-off interval. His continued +open teaching in face of their attempts at arrest puts fresh kindling on +the fire. "No man took Him," but clearly they wanted to. Their open +relations become more strained. He uses yet plainer speech in exposing +their hypocrisies. This stirs them still more. Their hooked fingers +reach passionately for the stones that would make a finish at once, and +the green light flashes out of their enraged eyes. It's the sharpest +clash yet. They are at a high fever point. + +It seems to take a greater use of power to restrain. "He hid Himself" is +the simple sentence used. This is one of four times that we are told of +His overcoming the hostile attack of a crowd by simply passing through +their midst and going on His way.[98] Perhaps something in the glance of +that eye of His, or in the set of His face,[99] _something_ in Him +restrained them as He quietly passes through the uproarious crowd and +goes on His way undisturbed. They are held back against their wills from +doing the thing they are so intent on doing.[100] + +A few months later He is back in Jerusalem. But the interval seems not +to have cooled their passion, only to have heated and hardened their +enmity. They at once begin an aggressive wordy attack. Then losing +self-control in their rage they again reach down for the stones to kill +Him at once. And again they are restrained from their passionate +purpose, as Jesus quietly goes on talking with them. Again they attempt +to seize His person. And the simple striking sentence used, "He went +forth out of their hand," points to the extent of their purpose and to a +yet greater use of His power of restraint over their unwilling +wills.[101] + +The last incident of this sort is the kingly entry into the city amid +the enthusiasm of the pilgrim and city crowds. It says not a word about +any attempt on their part nor of His restraint over them. But the very +boldness of this wholly unexpected move on His part constituted a +tremendous restraint. Their hate had gone through several stages of +refined hardening during the few months preceding. The formal decision +to kill, the edict of excommunication, the public notice that any +information of His whereabouts must be made known, and the decision to +kill Lazarus also,--all indicate the hotter burning of the flames of +their rage. + +Yet into just such a situation He quietly turns the head of His untamed +unridden young colt of an ass and rides through the city surrounded by +the crowds under the very eyes of these leaders and their hireling legal +minions. The tenseness of the whole scene, the power of restraint so put +forth, the volcano smouldering underfoot waiting the slightest extra jar +to loose out its explosion, all are revealed in the little sentence so +pregnant in its concealed dynamic meaning, Jesus "_hid Himself from, +them_." There's an exquisite blending of restraint over them and +boldness with cautious prudence. He was walking very close to the edge +that time.[102] + +So His power, shown so quietly but irresistibly before the eyes of all +during those brief years, rises to a double climax nothing short of +stupendous. Miraculous power in the realm of nature and of the human +body had reached its climax in the raising of Lazarus, attested beyond +question. Power over the human will both in affecting a voluntary +change, and in actually restraining its action against its own set +purpose, had risen to its climax in the bold open entry in broadest +daylight into the capital where His death was officially and publicly +decreed. The two climaxes touch. And it is tremendously significant that +whereas they sometimes question His miraculous power, they could not +deny His restraining power over themselves. How gladly they would if +only they could. + +And all this, mark you keenly, is a bit of His wooing. The wooing is +ever the dominant thought in His heart. So He was revealing to them who +He was. He claims to be the Son of God, their kingly Messiah. And _He +lived His claim_. Power is the one universally recognized touchstone by +which we judge God and man. His power told _who He was_ even more than +His tremendous words did. He was acting naturally. His presence among +them thus natural, true to the power native in Him,--this was the +wooing. + +But there was more than power. There was _love_. There was a perfect +blend of the two. With the power went the love. Nay, rather, with the +love went the power. Love was the dominating thing. Jesus was love in +shoes, God in action. Always there was the tenderness, the gentleness, +the patience, the purity, the unflinching ideals, yes, the courage, the +utter fearlessness tempered with a wise prudence. All _these are the +fuller spelling of love_. + +Always these went in closest touch with the resisted but resistless +power. These are the two traits of God, two traits that are one. Men +always think most of the power. God Himself always emphasizes most the +love. But true power is simply love in action. The power is the outcome +of love, and under the control of love. + +This is the second of John's great impelling pictures. The first shows +us _the Person,_ the Man Jesus, God with us, God making a world, and +then, in homely human garb walking amongst its people, one of +themselves. + +This second shows us _the wooing_. This Man, so tender in touch, so +gentle in speech, so thoughtful in action, so pure in life, so unbending +in ideals, so fearless in the thick of opposition, so faithful to the +chosen faithless nation,--this Man Himself is the wooing. His words, His +actions, His power, His persistence, His patience, this also is the +wooing of this great God-Man-Lover. This is God spelling Himself out +into human speech, wooing men out and up and in to Himself. + + + +Jesus Recognised by all the Race. + + +And it is most striking to sit still and think into how this Lover was +_recognized_ by men of all nations, and how His wooing was _understood_ +and yielded to by men of all sorts. The intense Jew, the half-breed +Samaritan, the aggressive Roman, the cultured refined Greek,--that was +_all the world_. And all these recognized Him as some one kin to +themselves, bound by closest spirit-ties, to whom they were drawn by the +strong cords of His common kinship with themselves. The waves of His +personal influence were, geographically, like His last commandment to +His disciples. The movement was from Jerusalem to Judea, through +Samaria, and out into the uttermost part of the earth and the innermost +heart of the race. + +And all sorts of men understood. Jesus wiped out social differences and +distinctions in the crowds that gently jostled each other in His +presence. The aristocrat and the cultured, the student and the gentle +folk, mingled freely with simple country folk, the unlettered, the +humblest and lowliest, all drawn alike to Him, and all unconscious of +differences when under the holy spell of His presence. The wealthy like +Joseph of Arimathea, and the beggar like the man born blind, the pure in +heart like Mary of Bethany and the openly bad in life like the accused +woman of Jerusalem,--all felt alike that this Jesus belonged to them, +and they to Him. + +The underneath tie of real kinship of heart rubbed out all outer +distinctions. The old families of Jerusalem were glad to unlock their +jealously guarded doors to Him. And the simple Capernaum fisherfolk were +grateful when He shared bread and roof with them. All men recognized +Jesus as belonging to themselves. + +And the calendar has not changed this, neither Gregorian nor Old Style. +Time finds the race the same always. Centuries climb slowly by, but the +human heart is the same, and--so is Jesus. I was greatly struck with +this in my errand among the nations. The East balks at the ways of the +West sometimes. Many books say there is no point of contact between the +two. The East balks at our Western organization, our rule of the clock, +and our rush and hurry. Our Westernized church systems and our closely +mortised logical theologies are sometimes a bit bewildering, not exactly +comprehensible to their Orientalized mode of thought. + +But they never balk at Jesus. When they are told of Him, and get some +glimpse of Him, their eyes light, their faces glow, their hearts leap in +response. You book people say there is no point of contact between +Orient and Occident? But there is. Jesus is the point of contact. One +real touch of Jesus makes all the world akin. No; that can be put +better. One touch of Jesus reveals the kinship that is there between Him +and men, _and_ between all men. + +In Japan it was the Portuguese that first took the Gospel a few hundred +years ago. And you still find Japanese churches founded by the +Portuguese. Fifty odd years ago it was the English tongue that again +brought that message of life to them. But as I mingled among Japanese +Christians of different communions and heard them pray, they were not +praying in Portuguese nor in English. They had no thought that He was a +Portuguese Saviour they prayed to, nor yet an English. _They prayed in +Japanese_. They felt that Jesus spoke their tongue. He belonged to them. +He and they understood each other. + +As I listened to Manchu and Chinese, to Korean and Hawaiian pour out +their hearts in prayer, I could feel the close personal burning touch of +their spirits with Jesus. They and He were kin to each other. Their +very voices told the certainty in their hearts on this point. + +I recall a little old bent-over woman of seventy-odd years up in +northern Sweden, a Laplander. She had come a long three days' journey on +her snow-shoes to the meetings. Night after night as I talked through +interpretation her deep-set black eyes glowed and glowed. But when one +night an hour or more was spent in voluntary prayer she needed no +interpreter. And as I listened I needed none. I _felt_ that she _knew_ +that _Jesus spoke Lappish_. The two were face to-face in closest touch +of spirit. + +And so it is everywhere. The flaxen-haired Holland maid kneeling by her +single cot _knows_ that Jesus talks Dutch, and her homely hearthfire +Dutch, too, at that. And the earnest Polish peasant in his Carpathian +cabin bowed before the symbol his eyes have known from infancy is +talking into an ear that knows both Polish accent and Polish heart. So +with the German of the Saxon highlands, and of the simpler speech of the +Teutonic lowlands. So with the olive-skinned Latin and the darker-hued +African kneeling on opposite sides, north and south, of the great +Central-earth Sea. Wherever knowledge of Jesus has been carried, He is +_recognized_ and claimed _as their own_ regardless of national or social +lines. + +I knew a minister of our Southland, but whose public service took him to +all parts of our country. He had been reared in the South and knew the +coloured people by heart, and loved them. And when he returned to his +Southern home town he would frequently preach for the coloured people. +He was preaching to them one Sabbath with the simplicity and fervour for +which he was noted. + +At the close among others, one big black man grasped his hand hard as he +thanked him for the preaching. And then with his great child-eyes big +and aglow, he said, "Youse got a white skin, but youse got a black +heart." And you know what he meant,--you have a black man's heart, you +have a heart like mine. Your heart makes my heart burn. + +Now _Jesus had a Hack heart_. He had a white heart. He had a yellow, a +brown heart. He had a Jew heart, a Roman, a Greek, a Samaritan heart. +Aye, He had a _world_ heart, He had _a human heart_. And He _has_. +There's a _Man_ on the throne yonder, bone of our bone, heart of our +heart, pain of our pain. + +There's more of God since Jesus went back. Human experience has been +taken up into the heart of God. Jesus belonged to us. And now belongs to +us more than ever, and we to Him. The human heart has felt His +tremendous wooing. It has recognized its Kinsman wherever He has been +able to get to them, and it has gladly yielded to the plea of His love. + +Jerusalem might carpenter a cross for Him, but the world would weave its +heartfelt devotion into a crown of love for Him, bestudded with the dewy +tears of its gratitude, sparkling like diamonds in the light of His +face. + + + + +IV + +Closer Wooing + + _An Evening with Opening Hearts: the Story of a Supper and a Walk + in the Moonlight and the Shadows_ + + + + + Nigh and nigh draws the chase, + With unperturbed pace, + Deliberate speed, majestic instancy, + And past those noised Feet + A Voice comes yet more fleet-- + "_Lo, naught contents thee, who content'st not Me._" + + --"_The Hound of Heaven._" + + "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I + leave the world, and go unto the Father."--_John xvi. 28_. + + "I thought His love would weaken + As more and more He knew me; + But it burneth like a beacon, + And its light and heat go through me; + And I ever hear Him say, + As He goes along His way, + Wand'ring souls, O _do_ come near Me; + My sheep should never fear Me. + I am the Shepherd true." + + --_Frederick William Faber._ + + + + +IV + +Closer Wooing + +(Chapters xiii.-xvii.) + + + +Knots. + + +The knot tied on the end of the thread holds the seam. The clinching of +the nail on the underside holds all that has been done. Love ties knots +to hold what has been gotten. The bit of prayer knots up the kindly act. +The warm hand-grasp knots the timely word. The added word and act tie up +all that's gone before. Hate imitates love the best it can. But its +intense fires are never so hot. + +The rest of John's book is simple. It is tying knots on the ends of +threads. Five knots are tied on the ends of these same three threads we +have been tracing. + +There's a triple knot on the end of the blue thread of acceptance; an +ugly tangled knotty knot on the end of that black thread of opposition +and rejection; and a knot of wondrous beauty on the end of that yellow +thread of winsome wooing. Chapters eighteen and nineteen tie two of +these, the black and the glory-coloured. + +Chapters thirteen through seventeen, is the first knot on the faith +thread, the betrayal-night knot. Chapter twenty is the second, the +Resurrection knot; chapter twenty-one the extra knot, the love-service +knot. We take a look now at the patient skilful tying of the first knot +on the end of that true-blue faith thread. + +It's taken a good bit of careful work to _get_ that thread, tearing +loose, cleansing, spinning, twisting, careful handling, till at last a +good thread is gotten, and is being woven into the warp. Now a knot is +tied on its end to hold what has been gotten, and keep it from ravelling +out, for there's a desperately hard place coming in the weaving. + +There's a clean finish at the end of the twelfth chapter of John. +There's a sharp break, an abrupt turn off to something quite different. +The direct-wooing case is made up. There is no more added to it, except +the indirect, the incidental. The evidence is all in. Wondrous wooing it +has been, in its winsomeness, its faithfulness, its rare power. Now it +is over. It's done, and well done. That door is shut, the national door. + +Now another door opens. The inner door into Jesus' heart is being opened +by Him. And the inner door into the disciples' heart is being knocked at +that it, too, may open. It is the betrayal night. Jesus is alone with +the inner circle. They have received Him. Now He will receive them into +closer intimacy than yet before. They have opened their hearts to His +love. Now He opens His heart to let out more the love that is there. +Love accepted is free to reveal itself. And love revealing its warmth +and tenderness and depth yet more calls out quickly a deeper, a tenderer +love. + +It's the Passover evening. They have met, the twelve and their Master, +by appointment, in the home of one of Jesus' faithful unnamed friends. +In a large upper room they are shut in, gathered about the supper board. +As they eat Jesus is quietly but intently thinking. Four trains of +thought pass through His mind side by side.[103] The Father had trusted +all into His hands. He had come down from the Father on an errand and +would return when the errand was done. + +And now the hour was come. The turn in the road was reached, the sharp +turn down leading to the sharp turn up and then back. It had seemed slow +in coming, that hour.[104] Dreaded things seem to linger even while they +hasten, dreaded longed-for things, dreaded in the experience of pain to +be borne, eagerly longed for in the blessed result; as with an expectant +mother. Now the hour's here.[105] + +And yonder across the board sits the man so faithfully wooed, yet +dead-set in his inner heart on a dark purpose, more evil in its outcome +than he realizes. There must be more and tenderer wooing. He shall have +yet another full opportunity. And under all is the heart-throb of love +for these who are His own, being birthed into a new life by the giving +of His very own life these months past. He loves His own, and will to +the uttermost, the utterest, the mostest, limit of love and of time left +Him before _the_ great event. These are the thoughts passing quietly, +clearly, intensely, through Jesus' mind as they sit at supper. + + + +Teaching Three Things in One Action. + + +Now He acts.[106] Quietly He rises from the table, picks up a towel and +fastens its end in His waistband for convenience in use, after the +servant's usual fashion. Then He pours water into a basin and turning +stoops over the feet of the disciple nearest Him. And before they can +recover from their wide-eyed astonishment He begins bathing his feet and +then carefully wiping them with the convenient towel. And so around the +circle. Peter, of course, protests, and so calls out a little of the +explanation. And then with tender passionateness he asks for the washing +to take in all his extremities, head and hands as well as feet. How +their hearts must have felt the touch upon their feet! + +Then follows a bit of explanation.[107] But the chief thing had already +been done. The acting was more than the speech. Three things the Master +was doing. The teaching about humility lies on the surface, within easy +reach. It was acted, then spoken; done, then said. It was sorely needed, +and is. In it was the key to Jesus' great victory within the twenty-four +hours following,[108] and would have been for them had they used it. +Humility is the foundation of all strength and victory. Only the strong +can stoop. It takes the strongest to stoop lowest. He who so stoops is +revealing strength. + +Humility is not thinking meanly of yourself; it is merely getting into +correct personal relation with God, and so with men. It is our true +normal attitude, as dependent creatures, as those who have sinned, as +those who have been bought with blood. Everything we have is from +Another, originally and continuously; we are utterly dependent. All +rights have been forfeited by our wilful conduct; we retain nothing in +our own right. And all we have now has been secured for us at the cost +of blood; we are being carried at enormous expense. Not much room there +for self-satisfaction, is there? + +Humility is simply _recognizing_ our _utter dependence upon Another_, +and _living_ it. And this controls our touch with our fellows. In this +lies the secret of all strength,--mental keenness and vigour, +sympathetic touch with others, and power of action in life and in +service. All this touches the _weakest_ spot in these men, and in--us. + +But there's more here. The humility teaching is out on the surface. +There's a bit _under_ the surface, that they would soon be needing and +needing badly. It's this: the thing in you that's wrong _must_ be made +right; and it _can_ be. Every sin done by the man who is trusting Christ +as his Saviour, every such sin _must_ be cleansed away. And it _can_ be. +The feet-washing told this bit of tremendous truth. + +These men trusted Christ. But their moral feet would get badly messed +that night, mired and slimed by passionate betrayal and blasphemous +denial and cowardly flight. The man going to the bath-house was clean on +returning home except where his sandalled feet had gathered some soil +from the road. These men were cleansed in heart through Christ. But the +foot-soilings must be cleansed. These two things ring out. Sin _must_ be +reckoned with and cleansed out. _And_, blessed truth! it _can_ be. This +is the second bit. It would be brought to their remembrance that same +night when the road they took dirtied them up so badly, and afterwards. + +But there's a deeper, a tenderer bit yet here. There is _the love +touch_. Jesus was giving them the tenderest touch yet of His love, to +_hold_ them. The personal touch is the tenderest. Man yearns for the +personal touch, of presence, of lips, of hands. Something seems to go +_through_ the personal touch from heart to heart. The spirit-currents +find their connection so. Jesus gave the tender personal touch that +evening, the closest yet. His hands touched their feet, but He was not +thinking most about their feet. He was reaching higher up. His hands +reached past their feet for their hearts. + +And they felt it so. Their hearts understood, if their heads didn't yet. +Judas felt those hands reaching to touch his heart. And he had to set +himself afresh to resist that touch. John felt it, and _remained +steady_. Peter felt it and came back with flooded eyes. The fleeing nine +felt that touch and yielded to it as they penitently returned. Love +won. That personal touch did it. + +But Jesus feels Judas' heart hardening as He touches his feet, and the +gentle word already spoken availed not.[109] Now His great heart is +sorely troubled for Judas.[110] He tries once again to reach his heart +and stay his wayward feet. He reaches for his feet through his heart +this time. They're all together about the table again. Quietly, but with +tactful indirectness, Jesus lets Judas know that _He_ knows. He says, +"One of you is planning to betray Me." + +The men stare one at another in questioning astonishment. Peter touches +John's arm and with eye and word quietly asks him to find out. John +reclining next to Jesus asks the question in undertone. And as quietly +Jesus makes reply. Then the last appeal is made to Judas in the last +delicate touch of special personal attention. Judas' unchanged spirit +makes wordless answer. The hardening of the purpose is a further opening +of a downward door and that door is quickly used by the evil one. + +And Judas rises abruptly with jaw set and eye tense, and goes out into +the blackest night the clouds ever shut in. So the first tremendous part +of the evening's drama is now done. The wooing of Judas has been intense +and tender clean up to the last moment, _and_ resisted. Now that chapter +is done. Another corner is passed. The extremes have--parted. One man +has gone out. Eleven stay in, and in staying come closer. + + + +Believe--Love--Obey. + + +The atmosphere clears now. That black cloud shifts. The pressure is +relieved. The air changes. Breathing is easier. Jesus did His best to +keep Judas in by trying to have him turn something--some one--out. But +the something that held the some one is kept within, so the man goes +out. That inside air was getting a bit thick for Judas. Love's tender +pleading unyielded to makes breathing difficult. + +Again Jesus begins talking in the cleared air. The hour had full come. +The character of the Son of Man would now be revealed,[111] and in being +revealed God's character would also be understood, and God Himself would +show what _He_ thought of Jesus by His personal recognition and +acknowledgment of Him, and He would do it at once. The clock is striking +the hour. Now He was going away. They would not understand.[112] + +Then Jesus strikes the great key-note of their future conduct as He +goes on. _The_ thing is this: _love one another_. This is the badge He +gives them to wear. It will always identify them as His very own. Peter +picks up the one bit he understands, and is told that he cannot yet +follow in the tremendous experience lying just ahead for Jesus, but some +day he can, and will. And then to Peter's blundering self-confidence +comes a plain tender reminder of his weakness.[113] So that wondrous +fourteenth chapter that Christendom loves begins back in the thirteenth. + +And Jesus goes quietly on as they still linger about the table.[114] He +had been sorely troubled,[115] but He would have them not troubled by +their doubtings regarding Himself. It is true that they were outcasts +with Him, from their national home, but He would provide them a home, +and a better one. They did believe in God. They should believe Him just +as implicitly. This is the warp into which is woven the whole fabric of +that evening's talk. The whole talk is a plea for their trusting loving +acceptance of Himself as fully as of God. This word "_believe_" changes +its outer shape three times during that evening, making four words in +all, but it's always the same thing underneath. + +So now the teaching goes on in freest exchange of question and answer. +What a picture of how we may talk everything out with our Lord and get +fully answered. Thomas' question helps Jesus to turn them away from +thinking of a roadway of clay and sand to a Man. Philip's helps Him to +insist on the presence of the Father in a distinctive sense within this +Man so familiarly talking with them. And then four times over He rings +out that word _believe_. + +Then by a subtle turn He changes the word, though not the thing, to help +them understand better: "If ye _love_ Me."[116] That puts the thing at +once up on the _heart_ level. Believing is a thing of the heart. Their +heads were bothered. He said in effect,--all your head questions will be +answered in good time, but this thing is higher up than that. It's a +matter of your heart. And so that word _believe_ becomes _love_, its +second shape. And with that is quickly coupled _obey_, the third outer +shape He gives the word believe that night. + +It is all the same thing underneath. _Love_ is the heart side of +_believe_, the inner side. _Obey_ is the life-side of believe, the +outer, the action side. The love looks out the window of the life and +then _comes_ out and _walks_ down the street on an errand. Love doesn't +simply love: it loves _some one_. Love that simply loves isn't love. +Love comes to life only in the personal touch. + +And love keeps in perfect rhythm of action with the one loved. That is +the other way of saying _obey_. Obedience is the music of two wills +acting together. _Believe_ me, _love_ me, _obey_ me,--this is the +three-noted music of the upper room; three notes but one music; a fourth +note to be added later. This is the wondrous closer wooing. + +"I go to the Father. We, the Father and I, will send the Holy Spirit to +you. He will come in through this opened door of obedience. He will +abide in you, come in to stay. He will be everything and do everything +that you need in every sort of circumstance. Keep in closest touch with +Him: this is to be your one rule. Your part is simple. _Believe_; that +means _love_; that means _obey_." + +So they talk around the table. Then there's thoughtful silence, which +the Master breaks by saying, "Arise, let us go." + + + +The Great Vine Picture. + + +Now they're walking down the street, silently, the Master in the lead, +with John and Peter close by.[117] The moon is at the full. Now they see +the temple, the moonlight falling full upon it. And the great brass +grape-vine with which it had been beautified by Herod at his building of +it shines with wondrous beauty in the enchantment of moonlight. + +And now the Master is speaking again. Very quietly the words come as +they still gaze at the beauty of the brass vine. Listen to Him, "I am +the _true_ vine, and My Father the vine-gardener." Here is the +illustration that exactly pictures what He had been saying in the upper +room. It supplies the fourth word, the fourth outer shape that word +_believe_ takes on, _believe_, that is--_love_, that is--_obey_, that +is--_abide_. + +Look at the vine, then you have the whole story pictured, simple, +clear, full. Each of these four words grows out of the other as fruit +out of blossom, and blossom out of the new branch and that out of the +old stock of the vine: believe, love, obey, abide; vine, new branches, +tiny blossom, fruit. The fruit grows out of the vine; yet it is the very +life of the vine. _Abide_ grows out of _believe_, yet it is the very +heart and inner life of believe. + +So He goes on ringing the changes back and forth, now here, now there. +_Pruning_--that insures fruit, and more and better. _Praying_--that _is_ +the fruit, some of it; that naturally grows out of the abiding. "_My +words_"--that is part of the abiding, the life-juice of the vine coming +into branch and blossom and fruit. "Joy"--that is the rich red juice of +the grape in your mouth. "_Friends_"--that is the other word for abide. +That's what abiding makes and reveals. _Abiding_--that is what friends +do: that's what friendship is, the real thing. _Obey_--that is the swing +of step with our great Friend as we go along the road together. So these +clusters of rich ripe fruit hang thick on the vine of this simple +teaching-talk as they walk along in the moonlight. + +And now they're passing through some of the narrower streets as they +make their way east towards the city gate.[118] And these narrow streets +are shadowed. And you feel the shadows creeping into His talk. The world +will _hate_ them. Of course. This is a natural result of the abiding. +The outer crowd can no more put up with the Jesus-swayed man than with +Jesus Himself. And the hate would be aggressive. + +But if they would clearly understand ahead what to expect it would help +them keep their feet when the worst storm came. And by staying steady +and true through the worst that came, they would be of the greatest +service. The Holy Spirit in them would reach out and talk to that outer +crowd. He would make clear to them their awful sin in killing Jesus, the +spotless purity and rightness of the absent Jesus, and the terrific fact +that the prince of the world whom they rally to so faithfully is +actually judged, doomed and damned. Then He adds, "now in a little bit +I'll be gone from you. Then a little later, I'll be with you again." + +So He goes on ringing the changes back and forth on this in simple +conversational style. And now they are silent. The narrow street is +quite shadowed. He lets them think a bit over His words. And the +personal part takes hold most. And they talk softly together of what +this means,--a little while and He is gone; again a little while, and He +is back. They're plainly puzzled, yet restrained from breaking in upon +His deep mood. + +But with characteristic gentleness He speaks of what they would +ask.[119] Clearly there is some terrible experience for Him and for them +just at hand. But He reaches past to the joy beyond, as the mother +forgets sharp pains in the joy of her new-born babe. And as He talks +they think they understand now, but again He gently reminds of the storm +about to break. And then He leaves them three wondrous words,--_peace, +good-cheer, overcome_. In the midst of the worst storm there may be +peace. In the thickest of tribulation the song of cheer may ring out. He +_has_ overcome. The outcome is settled. No doubts need nag. Sing! Sing +louder! _Christ is Victor_! + +This is the second bit of the evening's closer wooing, this long quiet +talk about the supper table and along the road. It is wooing them up to +more intelligence in their believing and loving. It's wooing them to +trust _Him_, hold hard to _Him_, during the coming storm, when they +wouldn't understand. Even when they can't understand, but stand in +hopeless helpless bewilderment, they still can trust _Him_. + + + +Taken into the Innermost Life. + + +They're outside the city-gate now, going down the path towards the +Kidron Brook. Now comes the third bit of that evening's closer +wooing.[120] And this is the tenderest, the most personal, the least +resistible bit, the closest wooing of all. He takes them into His +innermost heart-life for a brief moment. It must have reminded John +afterwards of that mountain-top experience when Jesus drew aside the +drapery of His humanity and let a little of the inner glory shine out. +Here He takes them with Him into the holy of holies of His own inner +life with His Father. + +Let not any one think that Jesus was simply letting them hear Him pray, +so they might learn. Not that; not that. He was taking them into the +sacred privacy of His own innermost life. That was a bit of the wooing, +under the desperate happenings just ahead. But now as He takes them in +He quite forgets them, though He knows they are there. _He is absorbed +with the Father_. He isn't thinking now of the effect of all this on +them. That's past. He is alone in spirit with the Father, talking out +freely even as though actually quite alone. + +We are in the innermost holy of holies here. The heart of the world's +life is its literature. The heart of all literature is this sacred Book +of God. The heart of this Book is the Gospels. The heart of these four +Gospels is John's. The heart of John's is this exquisite bit, chapters +thirteen to seventeen. And there's yet an inner heart here. It is this +bit, the seventeenth chapter, where the inner side of Jesus' prayer-life +lies open to us. And we shall find an innermost heart yet again here. + +The simplicity of speech here catches the ear. The holy intimacy of +contact with God hushes the spirit. The certainty of the Father's +presence awes the heart greatly. The unquestioning confidence in the +outcome is to one's faith like a glass of kingdom wine fresh from the +King's own hand. The tenseness and yet exquisite quietness holds one's +being still with a great stillness. Both shoes and hat go off +instinctively and we stand with head bowed low and heart hushed for this +is holiest ground. + +Of course, no paraphrase of this prayer can possibly approach its own +beauty and simplicity. But it may perhaps send one back to the prayer +itself to see better what is there. + +They're out in the open, down near the Kidron. Jesus stops and looks up +towards the blue, the Father's open door, and quietly talks out of His +heart into His Father's heart, "Father: the hour is come"; talked of +long before this errand was started upon, brooded over these human +years, felt in His inner being as it ticked itself nearer in the +tremendous passing events. Now it is come. The clock is striking the +hour, striking on earth and echoed distinctly in the Father's ear. + +"Father: reveal now the true character of the Son; yet only that the Son +may reveal Thy true character.[121] Thou hast already done so in the +control Thou hast given Him over all men, that so He may give to them +the eternal life. And this is the real life to come into intimate touch +of heart and life with Thee and with Thine anointed One, Jesus." + +"I have already revealed Thy character in doing fully the errand Thou +didst send Me on. (And it _was_ fully done in all the active part, +though the greatest thing yet remained to be done in the tremendous +yielding, the strong passive yielding to Hate's worst that so Love's +truest and best might be clearly seen by men.) And now I am coming back +to be recognized and acknowledged and received by Thine own self even as +it was before I came away on this errand." + +Thus far He has been alone with the Father face-to-face; just the two +together in closest communion. Now the prayer moves on from communion +and petition to intercession. He is thinking of others, of these men who +are grouped near by. He has prayed for them before. He is simply picking +up the thread of the accustomed prayer He had prayed, and would still +pray when He had gone from them up through the doorway of the blue. + +He has revealed the Father to them, and they have understood and +believed and have followed. Now He _prays for them_, that they may be +_kept_; not taken out of the world; kept in it, giving their witness to +it, yet never of its spirit, always controlled by another Spirit. They +were being sent into the world for witness even as He had been. + +And a great word breaks out like the bursting of a flood of sunlight out +of dark clouds,--_joy_. He had used it that evening before in the upper +room, and again along the road. Now it flashes out again. This reveals +the meaning of that _good-cheer_ and _overcome_ with which the roadway +talk closed. With the clouds of hate at their blackest, and the storm +just about to break in uncontrolled wild fury, He speaks of "My _joy_." +He is _singing_. In the thick of hatred and plotting here's the bit of +music, in the major key, rippling out. Such a spirit cannot be defeated. +Joy is faith singing in the storm because it sees already the clearing +light beyond. + +And so He prays on, touching the same keys of the musical instrument of +His heart, back and forth, yet ever advancing in the theme. Now He +broadens out, in clear vision, beyond the gathering storm, to those, +through all the earth, and down the centuries, who would believe through +these men who are listening. What a sweep of faith. That singing cleared +His vision. + +And then He sees them all, of many races and languages and radical +differences, all blended into one body of earnest loving believers drawn +by the one vision of Himself back in the glory of the Father's presence, +where they will all gather. And then love ties the knot on the end. A +personal love ties together Father and Son and--us, who humbly give the +glad homage of our hearts. + +Right in the very midst of the prayer lies that innermost heart of which +I spoke a moment ago. It is in verse ten. Jesus says, "_All things that +are Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine_." There lies the very inner +heart of all carried to the last degree. _There_ is glad giving and full +taking; surrender and appropriation. He who gives all may reach in and +take all. Here is, humanly, the secret of Jesus' stupendous character +and career. + +And it is the same for the humblest of us. The road is no different. We +_may_ say, by His great grace, in the insistence of our sovereign wills, +"All that is mine is Thine: I give it Thee. I give it back to Thee: I +use all the strength of my will in yielding all to Thee, and in doing +it habitually." + +Then we _can_ say, with greatest reverence and humility and yet bold +confidence, "All that is Thine _is mine._" Yet being mine it is Thine. +Still being Thine it is mine. So comes the perfection of the rhythmic +action of love. Our love gives our all to _Him_. And then _takes_ the +greater all of His--no, not _from_ Him, _for_ Him, held in trust, used +_for_ Him, while we keep knees and face close to the ground, lest we +stumble and slip and worse. + +So the prayer closes. And if we might go back over it, alone in secret, +prayerfully, quietly thinking thoughtfully into it, until this great +simple prayer gets its hold upon our hearts. And then gradually it would +come to us that _so_ He is now praying for us, _you and me_. + +What must it have meant to these men to stand there quietly, awed as +they listen to Him praying that prayer. How it reveals the deep +consciousness of the intimacy of relation between Father and Son. How it +must have touched and stirred them to the very depths to hear Jesus +telling the Father so simply about _their_ faith in Himself, and _their_ +obedience, their break with their national allegiance to follow Himself. +And that word _joy_--did they wonder about it? And wonder more later +that night, and the days after? But the key-note of the music _caught_, +and soon they were singing the same tune, and in the same pitch. + +What wooing! This was the closest wooing. The fine wooing of this +matchless Lover came to its superlative degree that night. Positive +degree, that touch upon their feet; comparative, that talk about the +board and along the road; superlative, this taking them in for a brief +moment into the secrecy of His inner communion with the Father. + + + +Simplified Spelling. + + +And this closer wooing is not over. It hasn't quit yet. That vine is +still hanging out in fine view, all softly ablaze with the clear +beautifying light, not of a fine Passover moon; no, the light of His +_face_, His _life_, His _words_. That vine becomes for all time to every +heart the pictured meaning of _abide_. And that word _abide_ gives the +whole of the true life. + +We say _Christian_ life, and rightly. I like to say also, the true, the +natural, life. Any other is abnormal, unnatural, untrue. I might say, +"of the higher Christian life," following the common usage of these +latter days. I still prefer to say _true_ life. Higher means that there +is a lower life. And that this lower is reckoned Christian, too. That is +the bother, the cheapening of things; we _call_ a thing Christian which +is less than the thing it is called. + +Some of us need to go to school, and to sit down in the lower classes +where spelling is taught. We can spell _believe_ in the common way with +seven letters. We must learn to spell it with four letters--l-o-v-e. We +need to learn to spell _love_ with a _b_ and a _y_--o-b-e-y. We need to +learn to spell obey with five letters a-b-i-d-e. We need to find that +_abide_ is spelled best with four letters o-b-e-y. + +We need to learn this simplified spelling a bit, then _all_ will become +simplified, living, loving, witnessing, praying, winning, singing with +joy over the results of our new spelling in the syllables of daily life. +Blessed Master, we would come to school to Thee to-day. Please let us +start down in the spelling class. And teach us, Thou Thyself teach us. + +But the vine--let us make that the central picture on the wall, with the +Master in the picture pointing to the vine. And under the picture the +one word _abide_. Then the whole story is in easy shape to help, +pictured before our eyes. Abide--that is _Jesus walking around in your +shoes_, looking out through your eyes, touching in your hand, speaking +through your lips and your presence. He is _free_ to; that's _your_ side +of it. He's unhindered. He _does_ it; that's _His_ side of it. + +Look up at the picture on the wall. The whole vine is in the fruit, is +it not? The whole of the fruit is in the vine, is it not? That's +abiding. The whole of Jesus will be in you as you go about your daily +common task, singing. The whole of you is in Jesus as everything simple +and great, is done _to please Him_, singing as you do it. + +And just as between vine and fruit there are branch and blossom, pruning +and careful handling, sun and shade, dew and rain, so there are +_betweens_ here before full ripening of fruit comes. There's purifying, +cleansing by blood, cleansing by a soft fire burning within, and +pruning by the Gardener and by His human assistant, you, sharp, +incisive, hurting pruning. + +There's _feeding_,--the juice of the vine _flows_ in, and is _taken_ in; +the divine word of the divine Master is meditated, the cud of it is +chewed daily. There's _obedience_,--perfect rhythm of action between +vine and branches. There's _prayer_, the intercourse of our spirits, His +and ours, together, the drawing from Him all we need, and the letting +Him use us in His interceding for His world. These are some of the +_betweens_. Through these comes the ripening fruit. + +And the outer crowd comes eagerly for the fruit hanging over the fence +within easy reach. There's a warm sympathy with one's fellows; only the +thing's more than the words sound. The Jesus-spirit within will be felt +by those outside, something warm and gentle and helpful. There will be +things done, many things, earnestly thoughtfully done. The proper word +is service. But the thing's so much more than the word ever seems to +mean. + +And there'll be yet more, a more of a surprising sort. The classical fox +called the grapes sour because he _couldn't_ reach them. There'll be +some outside sour talk because some of the crowd _won't_ reach the +fruit. It wouldn't agree with them the way they insist on living. The +Jesus-life abiding within and flowing freely out is a protest against +the opposite. The mere presence of a _Christ-abiding_ man convicts +people of the sin of their lives and their treatment of Jesus. It +convinces them that the absent Jesus is right, and so they are wrong. +So there's trouble out in the crowd just because of the ripe good fruit +hanging in plain sight and easy reach over the vineyard fence. And that +double result goes on getting more so, some coming to the vine drawn by +the fruit, some talking against fruit and vine. But the man abiding is +of good cheer. He sings. For the outcome is assured. + +So every grape-vine, in garden, by roadway, or on hillside, with its +vine-stock, branches, blossom, and fruit, tells of the Father's ideal +for men, a unity of life with Himself, and with each other. And every +bunch of grapes hanging on one stem, with its many in one, tells of that +same ideal, the concord of love with the Father and with each other. + +And that unity of love dominating all is irresistible to the outer +crowd, in the winsomeness of its wooing. + + + + +V + +The Greatest Wooing + + _A Night and a Day With Hardening Hearts: the Story of Tender + Passion and of a Terrible Tragedy_ + + + + + "Now of that long pursuit + Comes on at hand the bruit; + That Voice is round me like a bursting sea: + 'And is thy earth so marred, + Shattered in shard on shard? + _Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest Me_! + Strange, piteous, futile, thing! + + Wherefore should any set thee love apart? + Seeing none but I makes much of naught' (He said) + 'And human love needs human meriting: + How hast thou merited-- + Of all man's clotted clay the dingiest clot? + Alack, thou knowest not + How little worthy of any love thou art! + Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee, + Save Me, save only Me? + All which I took from thee I did but take, + Not for thy harms, + But just that thou might'st seek it in My arms. + All which thy child's mistake + Fancied as lost, I have stored for thee at home: + Rise, clasp My hand, and Come.'" + + --"_The Hound of Heaven_ + + "I will betroth thee unto me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto + me in righteousness, and in justice, and in loving kindness, and in + mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness."--_Hosea + ii. 19, 20._ + + "Jesus, Lover of my soul, + Let me to Thy bosom fly, + While the nearer waters roll. + While the tempest still is high. + Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, + 'Til the storm of life is past; + Safe into the haven guide, + O receive my soul at last." + + --_Charles Wesley_. + + + + +V + +The Greatest Wooing + +(John xviii.-xix.) + + + +Wider Wooing. + + +At the top of the mountain is the peak. The peak is the range at its +highest reach. The peak grows out of the range and rests upon it and +upon the earth under all. The whole of the long mountain range and of +the earth lies under the peak. The peak tells the story of the whole +range. At the last the highest and utmost. All the rest is for this +capstone. + +The great thing in Jesus' life is His death. The death crowns the life. +The whole of the life lies under and comes to its full in the death. The +highest point is touched when death is allowed to lay Him lowest. It was +the life that died that gives the distinctive meaning to the death. Let +us take off hat and shoes as we come to this peak event. + +There's a change in John's story here. The evening has gone, the quiet +evening of communion. The night has set in, the dark night of hate. The +intimacies of love give place to the intrigues of hate. The joy of +communion is quickly followed by the jostling of the crowd. Out of the +secret place of prayer into the hurly-burly of passion. And the +Master's rarely sensitive spirit feels the change. Yet with quiet +resolution He steps out to face it. This is part of _the hour_, part of +His great task, the greatest part. + +For the holy task of wooing is not changed. It still is wooing, but +there's a difference now. There's a shifting. The wooing goes from +closer to wider, from the disciples to the outer crowd, from the direct +wooing of the national leaders by personal plea to the indirect by +action, tremendously personal action. + +It moves out into a yet wider sweep. It goes from the wooing of a nation +to the wooing of a race, from Jew distinctively to Roman +representatively, from Annas standing in God's flood light rejected to +Pilate in nature's lesser light obscured, from God's truant messenger +nation to the world's mighty ruling nation. + +In the epochal event just at hand Jesus begins His great wooing of a +race. And that wooing has gone on ever since, wherever He has been able +to get through the human channels to the crowd. He was lifted up and at +once men began coming a-running broken in heart by the sight. He is +being lifted up, and men of all the race are coming as fast as the slow +news gets to them. + +But back now to John's story. They pick their way over the stones of the +little Kidron into the garden of the olives. There, quite alone in the +deep shadows of the inner trees, Jesus has His great spirit-conflict, +and great victory. The touch with sin so close, so real, now upon Him +within a few hours, the sin of others upon His sinless soul,--this +shakes Him terrifically beyond our understanding, who don't know purity +as He did. But the tremendous strength of yielding brings victory, as +ever. And the battle of the morrow is fought in spirit, and won. + +Now the trailers of hate come seeking with torch and lantern, soldiers +and officers, chief priests and rulers, the ever present rabble, and in +the lead the shameless traitor. They are pushing their quest now, +seeking Jesus in the hiding whence He had gone days before[122] led by +the man who knew His accustomed haunts. + +But there's no need for seeking now. Jesus is full ready. He decides the +action that follows. He is masterful even in His purposeful yielding. +Quietly He walks out from the cover of the trees to meet them. And as +their torches turn full upon His advancing figure again that marvellous +power not only of restraint but decidedly more is felt by them. And the +whole company, traitor, soldiers, rulers, rabble, overpowered in spirit, +fall back and then drop to the ground utterly overawed and cowed by the +lone man they are seeking. + +Does Judas expect this? Will this power they are unable to resist not +open the eyes of these rulers! But there's no stupidity equal to that +which goes with stubbornness. In a moment Jesus reveals His purpose in +this, to shield His disciples. Now the power of restraint is withdrawn +and He yields to their desires. They shall have fullest sway in using +their freedom of action as they will. And Peter's foolish attempts are +quietly overruled. + +They keep up the forms by taking Jesus to Annas the real Jewish ruler of +the nation. But it is simply an opportunity for the coarseness of their +hate to vent itself upon His person. They pretend an examination here in +the night's darkness suited to their deeds. He quietly reminds them of +the frank openness of all His teachings. + +Meanwhile John's friendly act has gotten Peter entrance. The attitude of +the two men is in sharpest contrast. John is avowedly Jesus' friend, +regardless of personal danger. Peter just the reverse. And the hate of +the leaders has soaked into all their surroundings even down to the +housemaids. And John notes how exactly Jesus foreknew all, even to a +thrice-spoken denial before the second crowing of a cock. + +Now comes the great Pilate phase. It was the intense malignity of their +hate that made them bother with Pilate. They could easily have killed +Jesus and Pilate would never have concerned himself about it. But they +couldn't have put Him to such exquisite suffering and such shameful +indignity before the crowds as by the Roman form of death by +crucifixion. + +Clearly there is a hate at work _behind_ theirs. Their hate is +distinctly _inhuman_. Is _all_ hate? There's an unseen personal power in +action here set on spilling out the utmost that malignant hate can upon +the person of Jesus. But these men are cheerful tools. Hate is tying its +hardest knot with ugliest black thread on the end of its opportunity. + +This is Pilate's opportunity and he seems to sense it. And a struggle +begins between conscience and cowardice, between right action with an +ugly fight for it, and yielding to wrong with an easy time of it. +Clearly he feels the purity and the personal power of this unusual +prisoner. The motive of envy and hate under their action is as plain to +his trained eyes. + +Twice the two men, Pilate and Jesus, are alone together. Did ever man +have such an opportunity, personally, and historically? With rare touch +and winsomeness Jesus woos. And Pilate feels it to the marrow under all +his rough speech. His repeated attempts with the leaders make that +clear. But cowardice gripped him hard. It's a way cowardice has. + +The name of Caesar conjures up fears,--loss of position, of wealth, of +reputation, maybe of life itself. He surrenders. Conscience is slain on +the judgment seat. Cowardice laughs and wins. A sharp fling brings a cry +of allegiance to Caesar from their reluctant throats, as their hatred +wins the day. He strikes them back an ugly blow as He surrenders. That +reluctant Caesar cry told out the intensity of their hate. They hated +Caesar much, but they hated Jesus immeasurably more. They gulp down +Caesar to be able to vent their spleen upon Jesus. + +And so they crucified Him. At last they succeed. They have gotten what +they were bent on. The hate burning within, these months and years, +finds its full vent. Its hateful worst is done, and horribly well done. +And they stand about the cross with unconcealed gloating in pose and +face and speech and eyes. Their part of the story is done. + + + +Masterful Dying. + + +But Jesus' part--ah! that was just begun. John lays emphasis on the +mastery of Jesus here. It is marked, and reveals to John's faithful +love-opened eyes the dominating purpose of Jesus in yielding to death. +Strong, thoughtful, self-controlled, anticipating every move, He was +using all the strength of His great strong will in yielding. He was +doing it masterfully, intelligently. + +This is marked throughout. At the arrest He walks frankly out to meet +those seeking Him, and restrains them in that strangely powerful way +till He was quite ready. He makes the personal plea to Pilate for +_Pilate's_ sake, impressing him so greatly, but interposing nothing to +change the purpose of His accusers. When Pilate's final decision is +given John notes that Jesus "went out _bearing the cross for Himself,_" +though provision had been made for this.[123] His influence upon Pilate +is seen in the accuracy of the kingly inscription that hangs over the +cross. In the midst of the excruciating bodily pain He thinks of His +mother, and with marvellous self-control speaks the quiet word to her +and to John that insures her future under his filial care. + +And then John significantly adds, "_Jesus, knowing that all things are +now finished._"[124] With masterly forethought, and self-control and +deliberation He had done the thing He had set Himself to do. Never was +yielding so masterful. Never was a great plan carried out so fully +through the set purpose of one's enemies. His every action bears out the +word He had spoken, "No man taketh My life away from Me, I lay it down +of Myself."[125] + +So now His great work is done, and thoroughly done. His lips speak the +tremendous word, "It is finished." And He bowed His head and _gave up_ +His spirit. It was His own act. The self-restraint was strong upon Him +till all was done that was needed for the great purpose in hand. Then +His head is bowed, His great heart broke under the terrific strain on +His spirit as He allowed His life to go out. + +From that moment no indignity touches His body. The Jews with their +wearisome insistence on empty technicalities would have added further +indignity to crucifixion. But that body is sacredly guarded from their +profane hand by unseen restraint. John with solemn simplicity points to +the unmistakable physical evidence, in the separation of blood and +water, that Jesus had actually died; no swooning, but death. And +reverently he finds the confirmation of Scripture. + +Only tender love touches that body now. Two gentlemen of highest +official and social standing and of large wealth, brothers in their +faith in Jesus, and also in their timidity, now take steps at once to +have the precious body of their dear friend tenderly cared for without +regard to expense. So He is laid away in a new tomb in a garden among +the flowers of the spring time. The last touch is one of tender love. So +His greatest wooing was done, and begun; the great act done, its +tremendous wooing influence only just begun. + +Jesus died deliberately. This is quite clear. It was done of love +aforethought. It was His own act fitted into the circumstances +surrounding Him. This makes His death mean just what He meant it to +mean. Run back through His teachings rather carefully and that meaning +stands clearly out. + +He was the Father's messenger; simply this; but all of this. The ideals +of right so insistently and incessantly held up and pressed were the +Father's ideals. His mere presence told the Father's great love for men. +They two were so knit that when the one suffered the other suffered, +too. + +It was the love for men in His own heart that drew Him down here and +drove Him along even to the Calvary Hill. He died _for_ men, in their +place, on their behalf. This was His one thought. Through this their +bondage to sin and to Satan would be broken and they would be set +free.[126] And they would be drawn, their hearts would be utterly melted +and broken by His love for them.[127] The influence would reach out +until all the race would feel its power and respond; and it would reach +into each one's life who came till the life he lived was of the +abundant, eternal sort. + +The devil was a real personality to Jesus. This whole terrific struggle +ending at the cross was a direct spirit-battle with that great spirit +prince. So Jesus understood it. All the bitter enmity to Himself traces +straight back to that source. That enmity found its worst expression in +Jesus' death. The pitched spirit-battle was there. But that prince was +judged, condemned, utterly defeated and cast out in that battle, and his +hold upon men broken.[128] + +And so this was the greatest wooing of all. It was greatest in its +intensity of meaning _to the Father_ looking eagerly down. It revealed +His unbending, unflinching ideals of right, and the great strength and +tenderness of His love for men. He would even give His Son. It was +greatest in its intensity of meaning _to the Son_. It meant the utmost +of suffering ever endured, the utmost of love underneath ever revealed; +and it would mean the race-wide sweep of His gracious power. + +It was greatest in its intensity of meaning _to Satan_, the hater of God +and man. It told his utter defeat, and loss of power over man. So it +broke our bonds and made us free to yield to the wooing. And it was +greatest in its intensity of meaning _to us men_. For it showed to our +confused eyes the one ideal of right standing out clear and full. It +set us free from the fetters of our bondage, gave us the tremendous +incentive of love to reach up to the ideal of right, and more, immensely +more, gave us _power to reach it_. + +It was the greatest wooing _in the out-reach_ of its influence, for all +men of all the earth would be touched.[129] And it was greatest _in the +in-reach_ to all the life of each one who came under its blessed +influence. The whole ministry taught this. It would mean newness of life +in body, in mind, in social nature, in spirit, and in the eternal +quality of life lived here, and to be lived without any ending. + +And all the world has responded to this greatest wooing as they have +come to know of it. That three-languaged inscription on the cross was a +world appeal and a world prophecy. In Hebrew the religious language of +the world whose literature told of the one true God, in Latin the +language of the masters of the world, in Greek the language of the +culture of the world, that message went out to all the world. This Jesus +is our Kinsman-King, our Brother-Ruler, our Love-Autocrat. He revealed +His love for us in His death for us. + +And men answer to Jesus' great plea. With flooded eyes and broken +hearts, and bending wills, and changed lives, men of all the race bow +gratefully at the feet of Jesus, our Saviour and Lord and coming King. + + + + +VI + +An Appointed Tryst Unexpectedly Kept + + _A Day of Startling Joyous Surprises_ + + + + + "Halts by me that footfall: + Is my gloom, after all, + Shade of His hand outstretched caressingly? + 'Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest, + I am He whom thou seekest! + _Thou drawest love from thee, who drawest Me._'" + + --"_The Hound of Heaven._ + + "After I am raised up I will go before you into Galilee."--_Mark + xiv. 28._ + + + + +VI + +An Appointed Tryst Unexpectedly Kept + +(John xx.) + + + +The Appointment. + + +Jesus had made an appointment. It was with these dear friends who had +responded so lovingly to His wooing. It was a significant appointment, +most significant. He had appointed to meet them three days after His +death. He had made a further appointment to meet them in Galilee. What a +stupendous appointment to make! + +It was a sacred appointment, sacred as the love that made it, sacred to +Jesus as the friendship of these men with whom it was made, sacred as +His word that never was broken. Our Scottish friends use a most +significant word for appointment, the word _tryst_. They used to use it +some for ordinary appointments, but chiefly it is used for friendship +and for love-appointments. The appointment is a tryst. + +Tryst is the same word as _trust_. In the old Gothic language it was one +of the words used for a covenant or treaty. In medieval Latin it was a +pledge given that an agreement would be kept. It is a fine turn of a +word that uses the very spirit of confidence in one's heart in another +as the name for the appointment made with him. The trust in the heart +gives the name to the appointment. It's an appointment with one who +_can_ be trusted to keep his word, and who _is_ trusted. + +So an appointed tryst becomes more than a mere appointment. It is a +pledge of faith. Now this is the real force of the word here. Jesus had +appointed a tryst with these men, and in making it He was plighting His +troth, pledging His word to them. He had asked them to risk all for Him. +In this tryst He is pledging all to them. + +He never forgot that sacred appointment. He had thought much before He +made it. He knew it would involve much to keep it. The power of God was +at stake in the making and the keeping of it. He knew that. He thought +of it. He made the appointment and He kept it. Jesus keeps His +appointments. His word never fails. Not even the gates of death, nor the +power of the evil one, can prevail against it. + +This was a staggering appointment. It took so much for granted. It +reckons God's power is as big as it is. But then that's a way Jesus had, +and has. And it is a way he will come to have who companions much with +Jesus. + +Jesus had spoken of this indirectly but distinctly when first He told +His disciples of His suffering and death, six months before. And each +time afterwards when He told them of His death the words were always +added, "and the third day rise again."[130] I The two things are nearly +always linked. But they hadn't seemed to sense what He meant. The thing +seems quite beyond them. + +He spoke of it again on that never-to-be-forgotten night of the +betrayal, the night of the feet-washing, and that last long talk, and +that wondrous Kidron-prayer. He spoke of it more than once that night. + +It was a very emphatic word He spoke as they were walking along the +darkly shadowed Jerusalem streets out towards the east gate. He said, "a +little while and ye shall behold Me no more; and again a little while +and ye shall see Me."[131] And the disciples pick this up and puzzle +over it. + +And the Master explains rather carefully and at some length. There was a +time of sore trouble coming for Him and for them. And while they were +sorrowing the outer crowd would be making merry. But it would be just as +with the expectant mother, He said. All the while even when the pains +cut she is thinking of the great delight that is to be hers. Her +after-joy clean wipes out of her thought the sharp cutting of the pain. + +So it would be. "_I will see you again_," He said in plainest speech. +And again that same night He said, "after I am raised up, _I will go +before you into Galilee_." Could any appointment be more explicit as to +time and place? + +But they forget. Aye, there's the bother, this thing of forgetting. The +memory is ever the index of the heart and the will and the +understanding. You can tell the one by the other. Some things are never +forgot. A bit embarrassing and odd this thing of forgetting what Jesus +says. + +His _enemies_ remembered, and took special pains to head off any +breaking of their careful plans.[132] And even when the angels remind +the women of the promised appointment, and they with great joy repeat +the reminder to the disciples, it seems like "_idle talk_" and is not +accepted. The thing couldn't be, they think.[133] Finally the evidence +becomes so convincing that they start off for the trysting place, "into +Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them."[134] + + + +How the Appointment Was Kept. + + +Let us look a bit at the wonderful keeping, so unexpected, of this +sacred tryst. It's the third day now since Jesus' death. It is in the +dark dusk of the early morning. A little knot of women make their way +slowly along the road leading out of the city gate. Mary Magdalene is in +the lead, so far ahead of the others as to be alone. They are carrying +packages of perfumed ointments. They are thinking only of a dear dead +body and of clinging fragrant memories. + +They are troubling themselves about how to get the big stone at the tomb +pushed aside. It was too much for their strength. As she drew near the +tomb Mary Magdalene's love-quickened eyes notice something quite +unexpected. The stone is moved aside! She naturally thinks some one has +taken the body secretly away in the night. + +Quickly she turns and runs back towards the city to tell Peter and John. +And as quickly as they hear the startling news they are off on a smart +run towards the tomb. Meanwhile the other women go on into the tomb. +They are further startled to see a glorious looking person who assures +them that Jesus is living, having risen up out of death. All a-quiver +with fear intermingled with the first glimmering light of a great hope +that they hardly dare hope, they flee hastily back to town to tell the +others. + +Now Peter and John, who have been eagerly running, arrive breathless, +with John in the lead. Gazing reverently, intently, in through the +opening John sees, not a body, but on the spot where the body had been +laid, the linen wrappings lying, held up in the shape of a body by +Nicodemus' abundant and heavy ointments just as when they held the body +of Jesus. But clearly there is nothing in them now. + +Now Peter comes up, and, just like him, goes straight in, and is at once +struck by the arrangement of these cloths, just as John had been. Then +they comment on the fact that the head cloths are lying where they +naturally would be, a little apart from the others, the distance of the +head from the body. + +The evidence convinces them that Jesus' spirit had indeed returned to +His body, and that He had risen up _through the cloths_, and gone. And +they start back to town in a great maze of wonder and delight. + +And now Mary Magdalene, knowing nothing of all this, comes slowly back +absorbed with her thoughts that the body has been secretly removed. She +stands at the open tomb weeping. Then for the first time she stoops down +and looks in. She is startled to see two angels left there to explain +matters. + +They gently say "Why weepest thou?" Still sobbing, she says, "They have +taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him." And +turning aside as she speaks she sees some One standing near her. Her +tear-misted eyes think Him the attendant in charge of the garden. Again +the question by this man, "Why weepest thou?" How strangely they talk, +these angels and this gardener! She makes a plea for the body. + +Then the one word, her name, spoken in that voice she knew so +well--"_Mary_." Ah! there's no question about _that voice_. She needs no +explanation nor evidence more than this, as she cries out, "Oh, my +beloved Master." Then He acts so like Himself; He gives her an errand to +do for Him. And off she goes. She has had the wondrous privilege of the +first sight of Him, and the first errand for Him. The tryst has been +kept with Mary Magdalene. + +And now the other women who had gone running down the road after +hearing the angels' startling message are amazed to meet Jesus standing +in the roadway in front of them. And the same quiet rich voice so gently +and simply gives them the usual "good-morning" salutation. At once they +are on their knees at His feet. And He softly says, "Don't be afraid. Go +tell My brethren to meet Me at the old place appointed, up by the blue +waters of Galilee." And again the tryst is kept. + +But before all this, the soldiers on guard, terror-stricken by the +earthquake that had taken place, and dazed at the sight of the "angel of +the Lord" had fled at top speed to the chief priests with their +startling story. Here was a wholly unexpected bothersome finish to the +thing. But quick consultation follows. And then free use of money makes +the soldiers willing to tell what they know to be a lie. And so the two +utterly different stories, the truth and the lie, get into circulation +at once. The soldiers and the chief priests' circle have learned that +the appointment was kept. + +Meanwhile Peter has gone down the road back to town in a maze of +conflicting emotions. John, lighter of foot, had hurried ahead, very +likely to tell the great news to Jesus' mother, now his own. Peter plods +slowly along, thinking hard. It was still early morning, the air so +still and fragrant with the dew. Maybe down by some big trees he is +walking, absorbed, when all at once, _some One is by his side_. It's the +Master. The appointment has been kept with Peter. But we must leave +them alone together. Peter has some things to straighten out. That's a +sacred interview meant only for him. + +That afternoon two disciples walking out to a little village a few miles +away are joined by a Stranger whose talk makes their hearts burn like +the Master's used to. And as they gather about the evening meal with +Him, and He gives thanks and breaks the loaf, all at once their eyes +_see_. It is _Jesus Himself_ who has been with them all the time. Again +the appointment is kept. + +At once they hasten back to town, and are just telling the news in +joyously broken speech to the disciples gathered in an upper room with +locked doors when again, all at once, Jesus appears in their midst, and +eats some bread and fish, and tells them to know by the feel that it is +really Himself with them. He has kept His sacred appointment with the +Twelve. Then a week later He comes in like manner among them again for +the sake of one man, Thomas. So He keeps the appointment with Thomas, +also. + + + +Our Guarantee of His Promises. + + +Two things stand out sharply. The resurrection was not expected. It was +the most tremendous surprise. The news was received at first by those +most interested with utter stubborn unbelief. Then the evidence was so +clear and repeated, and incontestable that these same men staked their +lives on it. They suffered to the extreme for their witness that Jesus +had indeed risen. + +Jesus rose from the dead. His body was re-inhabited by His spirit. The +spirit didn't die. Spirits neither sleep nor die. The body died. Then +life came into it again. It was a real body that could eat and be +touched. It was recognized as the same one they had known. But it was +changed. The old limitations were gone. New powers had come. + +Jesus keeps His appointments. His pledged word never fails. Not a word +He has spoken can ever be broken. Some day He is coming back. It is an +appointment.[135] Then we, too, who have slipped the tether of life and +left our bodies temporarily in the dust, shall rise up again to meet +Him. It is a sacred appointment He has made with us. + +And some of us who live in that day shall be changed instead of dying, +and shall be caught up to meet Him and our own loved ones in the air. +That's His true tryst with us up in the blue, some day. And He will keep +it. + +And meanwhile everything He has promised us in the Book is sure, as +being His plighted word. His resurrection is our bond, our guarantee. As +surely as He rose on that third morning He will keep His word regarding +every matter to you and me. + +His appointments never fail, whether of guidance, of bodily health and +strength, of supplies for every sort of need, of peace, of power, of +victory. The power that raised Jesus up from out the dead is pledged to +us for every promise of this Book for to-day's life. He will do an act +of creation before He will let His Word fail. He will leave no power +unused to keep the appointment of His Word with us. + +Let us trust His Word to us fully. And let us _live_ our trust. + + + + +VII + +Another Tryst + + _A Story of Fishing, of Guests at Breakfast, and of a Walk and Talk + by the Edge of Blue Galilee_ + + + + + "I come unto you."--_John xiv. 18._ + + "Lo, I am with you all the days."--_Matthew xxviii. 20_. + + + + +VII + +Another Tryst + +(John xxi.) + + + +Jesus Unrecognised. + + +John's story is done. And it is well done. With the skill of a tried +jurist he has drawn up a clear full line of evidence and presented it in +a vigorous straightforward way. And he plainly states his case. His +whole purpose is that those who read his little book shall come into +warm personal touch of life with the Lord Jesus. That ties the knot on +tight at the end of chapter twenty. John's case has gone to the jury of +his readers. + +But now John reaches for his pen again. The guiding Spirit has put +another bit into his heart to write down. This time it is a special bit, +not for all to whom the book is sent, but for a selected class of his +readers, namely, for those of them who have given John a favourable +verdict on the evidence presented. It grows out of chapter xx. 31 as +rose out of bud, and fruit out of blossom. It is for those who "believe +that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God," and so "have life in His +Name." + +And a very tender precious bit it is, more wondrous in its sheer +simplicity than any of us seem to suspect. It is simply this: _this +Jesus is with us all the time_. This same Jesus who was so swayed by the +need of the crowd, who burned His life out day by day warmly responding +to their sore need--_He is here._ + +This Jesus who fed the hungry, healed the sick of every sort, and freed +men from devilish power, who convicted men so tremendously of their +wrong, restrained their evil power to hurt, wooed the hearts of all so +irresistibly, and led them into changed lives; this Jesus who died and +then did the stupendously mighty thing of rising up out of death,--_this +Jesus is with us now_ by your side and mine. + +And He is just the same Jesus in His warm love and resistless power. The +_words_ are rather familiar. The _fact_--no one of us seems to have +gotten hold of it yet. This is the thing that makes John eagerly reach +for his pen again before his little book-messenger goes out on its +errand. + +The thing isn't new in _information_, but in actual living _experience_ +it seems to be so new as to be an unknown thing to some of us. The +Master had spoken of this that betrayal-night around the supper board. +It was really a continuation of that trysting appointment He had made +with them that evening, a wonderful continuation. + +Clearly they didn't understand Him that night. But during those +after-Pentecost days they were given a continuous graphic unforgetable +illustration of its meaning. We to-day seem able to explain the part +they didn't understand, the teaching that betrayal-night. We don't seem +to get hold of the part they did understand and experience, the real +presence of the risen Jesus in the midst actively at work. + +That night Jesus said: "I will make request of the Father, and He will +send you another unfailing powerful Friend to be always at your side." +Then He added: "He abides _with_ you now (in My presence) and shall be +_in_ you (after I send Him)." Then He said, "_I_ come unto you. Yet a +little while and the world _seeth_ Me no more but ye _see_ Me." + +And again, "He that hath My commandments and keepeth them he it is that +(in that sheweth that he) loveth Me and ... I will _manifest_ or _shew_ +Myself unto him." Here is the simple teaching: He would send the Holy +Spirit; in the Holy Spirit's coming Jesus Himself, the new risen exalted +empowered enthroned Jesus, He came; _and_ He would let them see Himself +with them. + +Now this added chapter of John's is _the illustration in advance_ to +these men of what these words mean. _The great standing illustration_ is +that Book of Acts which, will you notice, doesn't end. It only breaks +off, abruptly, without even a punctuation point. It wasn't meant to end. +We are supposed to be living in it yet. But these men haven't come to +the experience of the Pentecostal Acts yet. This is an illustration in +advance to them. And it remains an illustration to us of what we seem a +bit slow in taking in. + +But let us get at the simple bit of story itself. There's a little +group of the inner circle, seven including the leaders. These men +haven't found their feet yet. The stupendous events of those days, +coming in such startling succession, have left them dazed. The +crucifixion left them stupidly dazed; the resurrection left them joyous, +but still dazed. They don't know just where they are, nor what to do. + +So Peter proposes fishing; an ideal proposition, when you want to get +off and think things through and out. Any fisherman knows that. And the +others readily join in. They see the good sense of it. But the fish +don't catch. And the morning finds them tired in body and more tired in +the spiritless uncertainty that hangs over them like a clinging damp +fog. + +Yonder is some One standing on the beach. But that's nothing unusual. +They barely notice Him. And now this Stranger calls out to them a cheery +common question, "Caught anything?" And now He gives a--no, it can +hardly be called a _command_, so quietly is it said. Yet they are subtly +conscious of a something in the word that makes them obey, though it's +the last sort of thing to do. + +And now at once the net-ropes pull _so hard;_ astonishing this! Then +John's keen spirit detects _Who_ it is. Is he thinking of the other big +unexpected haul in those same waters![136] And Peter's over the side of +the boat shoreward. Fishing has lost all attraction for him. + +And when they all got ashore with their haul, tired, wet, chilled to +the marrow, hungry, what's this? A blazing fire of coals burning +cheerfully on the sands. And some fish dexterously poised, doing to a +brown turn, and some bread. And the Stranger, no, _Jesus_, He's no +longer a stranger, Jesus says quietly, "Boys, better bring the haul up +on the beach." + +And the old fishing habit still strong on them counts the fish. It's +such an unusual haul, they must know how many. John must be thinking +again about that earlier haul. The net couldn't stand the strain then. +But now it's different. Ah! _every_thing's blessedly different now. "The +net was not rent." + +Then the gracious call to breakfast by their Host. Was ever fish done to +such a fine turn? Did ever any fish have such an exquisite flavour? or +taste so good? Did ever men eat so gladly and yet quietly with a +distinct touch of awe in their spirits? For they _know_ it is the +Master, though no word of that has been spoken. Words were needless. + +Now they're walking along the beach, Jesus and Peter in the lead but the +others quite near. And there's the bit of talk between the two. Very +gently Jesus says, "Do you love Me, Peter?" And Peter feels he hardly +dare use the sacred word for "love" that the Master has used. He had +made such an awful break at just that point. And with breaking voice he +says, "Yea, Lord, Thou knowest I have the highest regard for Thee." + +And again the question, and the answer, with Peter still humbly +clinging to his more modest word. And now Jesus says, "Do you really +love Me even as you yourself say?" And Peter with his heart in his face +says passionately, "Lord, Thou knowest better than I can tell Thee." + +And because he loves, Peter is given the full privilege of shepherding +the whole flock, from feeding little lambkins on to feeding all, and +guiding, through the hard places, even the wayward ones. And more yet +and higher, because Peter loves, he will be privileged to suffer, even +as his Master had suffered. The fellowship would extend even to that. + +And Peter's eye falls on John. And apparently he is thinking of the +contrast between John's faithfulness and his own break that +betrayal-night. If poor faulty Peter may be so privileged how John would +be rewarded. But Jesus quietly turns Peter, and all Peter's numerous +kinsfolk of this sort, away from human comparisons. And instead He seeks +to turn their hearts to this: He is coming back in person some day for +an advance step in the kingdom program. And there they are, walking and +talking, along the beach by the blue Galilean waters. + + + +The Same Jesus Here Now. + + +An unrecognized Stranger who turns out to be Jesus; an unusual haul of +fish gotten in a very unusual way; a warm fire and tasty breakfast for +cold hungry men; a tender talk about love and service and sacrifice, +and about Jesus' return;--all this is a moving-picture illustration of +the meaning of a word, one word. + +It is a word Jesus used in that last long quiet talk. It's the key-word +to this added chapter, occurring three times. In the old version it is +the word "_shew_"; in the revision "manifest." "After these things Jesus +_manifested_ Himself again ... and He _manifested_ Himself on this +wise." "This is now the third time that Jesus was _manifested_ to the +disciples after that He was risen from the dead."[137] + +The word used underneath literally means "to make manifest or _visible_ +or know, what has been hidden or unknown."[138] Then each time it is +used it gets its local colouring from its connection. The simple +tremendous meaning here clearly is this: Jesus let Himself _be seen_ and +known. _He did not come_. He was there. + +But their eyes couldn't see Him. In effect He was hidden, not seeable. +Now the change that comes is this: _He is seen_. And He is seen in His +true native character; so certain results follow. He had said, "I will +_manifest_ Myself."[139] And this was now the third time that He did it, +to the disciples, after that He was risen. + +This is _the advance illustration of the Book of Acts_. This is the +tremendous thing He is burning into their hearts through eyes and +ears:--_He is always present_. He, whose power they had felt so +stupendously, and whose warm sympathy so tenderly, _He is always with +them_. The coming of the Holy Spirit meant just this. The Spirit would +be as Jesus' other self, as Jesus Himself. The one thing the Spirit +would do would be to manifest, to _shew openly_, the power of Jesus. + +Then four pictures pass before their eyes to illustrate the meaning, a +fishing picture and a breakfast picture _in action_; then _in words_, a +love-service-suffering picture, and a picture of Jesus returning in +person seen by all to take an advance-step. + +The fishing picture clearly meant this: great numbers of people, +surprisingly great numbers, coming, drawn not by any human skill, but by +the supernatural power of Jesus manifesting Himself in that way. The +breakfast picture meant this: that this wondrous Jesus would take tender +personal care of those in this blessed gathering ministry, even to their +bodily needs and strength. + +And the love-service-suffering word-picture said so plainly this: true +service grows out of love. The chief thing is the loyal tender +attachment to the person of Jesus. Then out of this will naturally come +service, and willingness to suffer. The touchstone won't be service but +personal love. The service will simply be an expression of the love. + +And the Jesus-return word-picture fills their vision with this same +Jesus coming in open glory before all eyes to carry out the kingdom +plan. As these men learned to live always in the presence of a Jesus +whom their outer eyes saw not, these pictures would become living +pictures seen in open daily life. + +So this is a further bit of the tryst appointment. This is the fuller +tryst, the greater, the yet more wondrous tryst. Not only would He rise +up out of death, and appear to them in person seen by the outer eyes, +but He would be with them continually manifesting Himself in rarest +power of action, in tenderest personal care, in talking and walking with +them. + +They would see the power plainly at work; then they would say with a +soft hush, "_He_ is here." They would find new bodily strength, new +guidance in perplexity, new peace in the midst of confusion, and they +would say to each other in awed tones, "_He is here: it's the Master's +touch_." + +And so it would come to be a habit to _anticipate_ His presence. They +would figure Him in, and figure Him in big, as big as He is, in all +sorts of circumstances and planning and meeting of difficulties. + +It is most striking that John closes his Gospel so differently from the +others. They close with the Master rising up and disappearing on a cloud +into the upper blue. John closes with Jesus walking along the beach, +talking with the little group of trusted ones. Jesus did ascend up into +the blue whence He shall some day descend. But the Holy Spirit sends +John back to his pen to give us this as the last picture, impressed on +the sensitive plate of the eyes of our heart. _This_: Jesus present with +us all the while walking along the shore of our common round of life, +clothed with matchless power, and devoting Himself to us as we to Him. + +Along about the middle of the eighteenth century there came to England a +young French-Swiss, named De la Flechere, hungry hearted for the truth. +He was so helped by John Wesley that he cast in his lot with the new +Methodist movement and John Williams Fletcher became one of Wesley's +most faithful co-labourers. Late in life he married a woman of unusual +mental and spiritual attainment. + +I ran across a simple story over there of this Mrs. John Fletcher which +interested and helped me much. This saintly gifted woman told of a dream +which came to her with such vividness as to seem to her mature mind more +than a common passing vagary of sleep. In her dream she was engaged in +an intense struggle with an evil spirit. She was having a most difficult +fight. + +She noticed some one standing a little bit to one side watching the +fight but taking no active part in it. The fighting became so intense +and her strength so sorely strained that she was on the point of giving +up. Then this one came over near and touched her gently and said, "Be +strong." Instantly a wondrous strength came to her and she held on. + +Again the evil one attacked her viciously. She wondered why this helping +friend did not come to her assistance in the fight. Then she was moved +to say to her enemy, "Depart, _in Jesus' Name_." And instantly he fled. +And she was free and victorious. That was her dream. As she awoke there +came to her the most real sense of the presence of her Lord. + +This is only one simple illustration from life. I have run across many +of the same, wholly different each from the other, but each emphasizing +the one simple tremendous fact of _the constant presence with us of this +same mighty Jesus_. + +It is of keenest help to mark that humanly the _initiative of action_ is +in _our_ hands. The fight is _ours_. We decide our stand. We choose, and +we bear the brunt or result of our choice. We step out as the need +comes. Prayer and a spirit of humblest dependence on Another guides our +decision and action. But _we_ take the action. The initiative is ours. + +And _always alongside is One standing close up_, putting all His +limitless power _at our disposal_, in our action. All He did in living +and dying and rising up out of death was done _on our behalf_. And now +all the tremendous result of His victory is at our command. All the +power native in Him is for our use. + +This is the other tryst our Lover-Lord makes with us. "_Lo! I_ am _with +you_ all the days, sunny days and shadowy, bright days and dark, all the +days clear to the end." This is the sacred tryst He has made with us. + +And He _keeps_ the tryst. We may count on Him, And as we do we shall +cast nets into hopeless waters and get a great haul. We shall find His +presence anticipating all our personal needs. We shall rejoice to serve +and--if so it prove to be--to suffer for the One we love with tenderest +devotion. + +And we shall look eagerly forward to seeing Him who is always in touch +with us, here and now, to seeing Him with these outer eyes of ours, +_coming in glory_ with His resistless power, _to make some blessed +changes_. + + + + +Footnotes + + + +[1] John i. 35-42. + +[2] i. 1-18. + +[3] i. 19-xii. 50. + +[4] Chapters xiii.-xvii. + +[5] Chapters xviii.-xix. + +[6] Chapters xx.-xxi. + +[7] Colossians i. 15-17. + +[8] Philippians ii. 6-8. + +[9] Ephesians i.19-23. + +[10] Revelation i. 13-18. + +[11] i. 1-18. + +[12] i. 19-xii. 50. + +[13] Chapters xiii.-xvii. + +[14] Chapters xviii.-xix. + +[15] Chapter xx. + +[16] Chapter xxi. + +[17] There are nineteen of these incidents: + + 1. The official deputation, i. 19-51. + 2. Marriage in Cana, ii. 1-11. + 3. Cleansing the Temple, ii. 13-22. + 4. Nicodemus, iii. 1-21. + 5. Dispute about purifying, iii. 22-36. + 6. Samaritan woman, iv. 1-42. + 7. Nobleman's son, iv. 46-54. + 8. Thirty-eight years infirmity, v. + 9. Feeding five thousand, vi. 1-15. +10. Walking on water and discussion, vi. 16-71. +11. At Feast of Tabernacles, vii. +12. Accused woman, viii. 1--11. +13. First attempt to stone, viii. 12-59. +14. Man born blind, ix. 1-x. 21. +15. Second stoning, x. 22-42. +16. Lazarus, xi. +17. Bethany Feast, xii. 1-11. +18. Triumphal Entry, xii. 12-19. +19. The Greeks, xii. 20-50. + + +[18] iii. 32. + +[19] iii. 11. + +[20] i. 19-51. + +[21] ii.1-11. + +[22] ii. 12. + +[23] ii. 13-22. + +[24] vii. 50, 51; xix. 39. + +[25] ii. 23-iii. 21. + +[26] iii. 11, 19, 32. + +[27] iii. 22-36. + +[28] iv 1-42. + +[29] iv. 43-45. + +[30] iv. 46-54. + +[31] v. 1-47. + +[32] vi. 1-14. + +[33] vi. 15-71. + +[34] vii. 1-52. + +[35] viii. 1-11. + +[36] viii 12-59. + +[37] ix. l-x. 21. + +[38] x. 22-39. + +[39] x. 40-42. + +[40] xi. 1-53. + +[41] xi. 54-57. + +[42] xii. 1-8. + +[43] xii. 9-11. + +[44] xii. 12-19. + +[45] xii. 20-36. + +[46] xii. 37-50. + +[47] ii. 23. + +[48] iv. 45. + +[49] vi. 1-2, 14, 15, 34. + +[50] vii. 31, 40, 41. + +[51] viii. 30. + +[52] x. 20, 21. + +[53] x. 40-42. + +[54] xi. 45; xii. 9-12. + +[55] xii 17-18. + +[56] xii. 12-14. + +[57] xii. 42. + +[58] ii. 23-25 + +[59] vi. 60-66. + +[60] xii. 42-43. + +[61] i. 35-51; ii. 1-11; iii. 13-28. + +[62] vi. 66-69. + +[63] xi. 16. + +[64] ii. 22; xii. 16. + +[65] iii. 1-21. + +[66] vii. 50-51 with xii. 42, 43. + +[67] xix. 39. + +[68] iv. 5-42. + +[69] Genesis XV. 6 with xx. 11. + +[70] vii. 35. + +[71] xii. 24-36. + +[72] Note the official deputation incident (chapter i.), and the +Nicodemus incident (chapter iii.). + +[73] i. 19-34. + +[74] iii. 11, 32. + +[75] ii. 13-20. + +[76] iii. 22-iv. 3. + +[77] iv. 44. + +[78] v. 16-18. + +[79] vi. 30-36, 41-42, 52, 60-66. + +[80] vii. throughout. + +[81] viii. 1-11. + +[82] viii. 12-59. + +[83] ix. 1-x. 21. + +[84] x. 22-39. + +[85] xi. 47-57. + +[86] "Jesus had _not yet_ come," intimating that they were expecting Him +in accordance with an understanding between Him and them. vi. 17. + +[87] Kings vi. 1-7. + +[88] Kings xvii. 17-24. + +[89] Kings xiii. 20-21. + +[90] Kings iv. 32-37. + +[91] Luke viii. 40-42, 49-56. + +[92] Luke vii. 11-17. + +[93] iii. 1-21. + +[94] iv. 7-42. + +[95] viii. 1-11. + +[96] ii. 13-21. + +[97] vii. throughout. + +[98] Luke iv. 30; John viii. 59; x. 39; xii. 36. + +[99] Mark x. 32; Luke ix. 53. + +[100] viii. 12-59. + +[101] x. 22-39. + +[102] xii. 12-19, 36. + +[103] xiii. 1-3. + +[104] ii. 4; vii. 6, 8, 30; viii. 20. + +[105] xii 23, 27; xiii. 1, 31-32; xvii. 1. + +[106] xiii. 4-11. + +[107] xiii. 12-20. + +[108] Philippians ii. 6-11. + +[109] xiii. 18. + +[110] xiii. 21-30. + +[111] The word "glory" with its companion "glorify," is frequent in +John. We shall understand better if we remember that originally the word +he uses means the opinion that one has of another, especially a good +opinion. But as the word is used commonly here the underlying thought +is, not what one thinks of another, nor yet something that one may give +to another, but _the actual character in the one so thought of._ Glory +is the character of goodness. So _to see one's glory_ is to see his real +inner character, and to see that character openly recognized and +acknowledged. So to _glorify_ means to recognize and acknowledge openly +the true character of one. Twice in John the word is used in the cheaper +meaning of outer honour among men. vii. 18; viii. 50. + +[112] xiii. 31-33. + +[113] xiii. 34-38. + +[114] xiv. 1-14. + +[115] xi. 33; xii. 27; xiii. 21. + +[116] xiv. 15-31. + +[117] xv. 1-17. + +[118] 18-xvi. 18. + +[119] xvi. 19-33. + +[120] xvii. throughout. + +[121] See footnote on "glory." + +[122] xii. 36. + +[123] Matthew xxvii. 32 and parallels. + +[124] xix. 28. + +[125] x. 17-18. + +[126] viii. 31-32, 34-36. + +[127] xii. 32. + +[128] Some references for this whole paragraph,--viii. 44; xii. 31; +xiii. 2, 27; xiv. 30; xvi. 11. + +[129] x. 16; xii. 32; xvii. 20. + +[130] Matthew xvi. 21; xvii. 9, 23; xx. 19; Mark viii. 31; ix. 31; x. +34; Luke ix. 22; xviii. 33. + +[131] xvi. 16. + +[132] Matthew xxvii. 63. + +[133] Mark xvi. 6-7; Luke xxiv. 6-11. + +[134] Matthew xxviii. 16. + +[135] John xiv. 3, and others. + +[136] Luke v. 1-11. + +[137] xxi. 1, 14. + +[138] So Thayer. + +[139] xiv. 21, 1. c. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Quiet Talks on John's Gospel, by S. 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