WE pursued our meditation down to the middle of chap. 5., and saw the Lord introduced to His ministry. If we scan with attention the characteristics of His ministry, we shall find out the mind of God. What the Lord was, God is. He tells us Himself, not by the lengthened descriptions of others, but by acting and speaking Himself. Would not we much rather learn Him from His own activities, than let another describe Him to us? We do not spend our time describing ourselves to others; we let our actions speak for us. We ought not to pass such a thought without blessing Him! The Sort has come into our midst, not merely personally, by incarnation, but He has brought Himself into the history of every day transactions, and can say, "He that bath seen. Me hath seen the Father." Shall not we sit down to mark the characteristics of His ministry with increased desire? It is a highway cast up, to lead us to the bosom of the Father. We discern God Himself in the activities of the Lord's speaking and doing. The heavens declare His glory, and the firmament shows His handiwork; but the firmament bath no glory, by reason of that which excelleth. Will any one who has seen Him in the face of Jesus go up to the heavens to seek Him? Could the heart be satisfied there? If I have discovered the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, His glories in the heavens, and in the flowers cannot satisfy me. It is like sending a man back to the alphabet after he has read some of the precious treasures of a language. Christ is your lesson as well as your teacher. I could not do with Him exactly as a teacher only. What would He teach me? But when He sits before me as a lesson, I have but to read my lesson. We find out in His ministry the moral glory that characterizes Himself, and he that hath seen Him hath seen the Father.
In the opening of chap 5., we saw the link formed between Christ and Peter. In the previous chapter we saw how admiration failed to form that link. It went to pieces under the assault of the pride of life. So also the healing of the body formed no permanent link. Those who were healed could come and go, but the moment conscience forges the link, it is not coming and going, but coming and staying. Aye, and until this hour it is the same thing. If we are not conscious that there is a link between the conscience and Christ, there is no abiding link. To be sure it is right to admire, but if we merely admire the link may be shattered by the first blow of pride; but if you cry out, " I want Thee, and cannot let Thee go," that is Peter's place; and he and Christ were joined for eternity. Nothing can be simpler. I would not have anything but my necessity bind me to Christ; and when that link is formed, it is so blessed that I would not exchange it for anything. Adam outside the garden was a happier man than inside. He knew more of God. It was no condescension for God to make the heavens, but He must have emptied Himself to make a coat for a poor naked sinner. Gen. 3 might well prepare me for John 13 I am not surprised to see the Lord washing the disciples' feet. God delights in the work of grace. Adam might have walked through the flowers of. Eden for eternity, and never have found out God in that character. Do you think he would have exchanged his pardoned for his innocent state;-his clothed for his naked state? He had found out God in a richer way than ever he would have done as an untainted man. So in Eph. 3, we find the angels have to come down to learn through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God,-the tale of divine goodness through pardoned sinners.
Now let us look at some of the characteristics of the Lord's ministry. First we come to the poor leper. What does he say? "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean." Do you believe in the reality of the varied ministerial glories of Christ? Then delight in it. Is the first thing I have to do to imitate Him? My soul deeply says that the duty that attaches to the first look at Christ, is delight-to be "lost in wonder, love and praise." Then, if such an object pass before me, I say I will appropriate it. I say, That 's for me. This is the duty of faith,-the obedient attitude of faith. When I can trust myself to Him, that is the most blessed obedience I can render.
The leper comes with a half heart-" Lord, if Thou wilt." It was a shabby thought. We should be ashamed to come to one another and say, " You have a hand if you have a heart." I say it was a shabby thought, but the Lord bore with it. "I will, poor fellow," He says, " be thou clean." Can you trust the heart of Christ? There is some one who says he can trust the heart of Christ better than any other heart. Here is comfort. I may be very conscious that I have approached Him feebly. Fallen human nature is a legalist-an arrant unbeliever. We naturally hate the person we have wronged. But I am encouraged, here, to know that though my approach may be feeble, the answer will be blessedly full. This is our redemption. We read of two redemptions in Scripture: judicial redemption, from judgment; and moral redemption by contact with Jesus.
Next we have a poor palsied man, let down through the tiling into the midst before Jesus. How does He treat him? The moment He looked at him He said, " Man, thy sins are forgiven thee." How magnificent! The same condescension that comes down to a weak faith, delights in a bold faith. When Jacob said to the Lord in Genesis " I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me," how did the Lord entertain the thought? Just as He did here. He allowed Himself to be overcome. If He condescends to a feeble faith, He allows Himself to be overcome by a bold faith. When the blind beggar met Him, what happened? His bold faith commanded Christ. " What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?" He commanded all His resources. Does not such a picture of Jesus suit you? It is worthy of Him, but it suits you. If you approach Him with a bold, unclouded faith, He will delight in it. Now mark, " Whether is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise, and walk." He intimates here, that as the poor palsied man got up and glorified God, so you, coming to Him as a sinner, should rise up and go out glorifying God. He who could say " Rise and walk," could say, "Thy sins be forgiven thee." The Lord is His own commentator, and He tells you that though you cannot bring your diseased body to Him to be healed, you can bring your sins. He is the text and the commentator, so that He may give the lesson and then comment upon it, till He lays it down at your own door. The act happened 1800 years ago, but by the comment of the Lord, I have the pardon of my sins laid down at my own door to-day.
We are still pursuing the discovery of Christ, and at the 27th verse Levi is called. The Lord simply said, "Follow me," but Matthew felt His power. He brought in the hidden operative power of the Holy Ghost. How was Lydia's heart opened? Who saw the operation? " The wind bloweth where it listeth." The Lord was opening the heart while Paul was addressing the ear. So here, the Lord was addressing Levi while the Spirit of, the Lord was opening his heart. Suppose you are happy in Christ, will you attribute it to nature? No, learn in simplicity to trace it to Christ. What virtue was there in the words " follow me?" None; and yet in spite of himself he rose up and followed Jesus. It was the wind blowing where it listed. What carried Zacchaeus through the crowd and up into the tree? It was the drawings of the Father in the hidden energy of the Holy Ghost that threw the bands and cords round him to draw him to Jesus. What mighty power was detaching Levi from everything he had in the world? It was the voice of the Lord that breaketh the cedars. Do you know such a moment? We should never have been at the feet of Jesus if the Lord had not drawn us. Levi rose at His bidding. And He made Him a feast, and with blessed and beautiful intelligence what company is it he brings? The very company that the Lord came to seek and to save. This was power clothing itself in light, strength accompanied by intelligence. The moment he is in company with the Lord, he knows the atmosphere he is in. What spreads a feast for Christ? _Knowledge of Himself. That is what spread the feast here. The poor prodigal spread a feast for him, and the Lord found delight at the table. He quickly transfigures Himself from the guest into the host, as He did at another time, with the disciples going to Emmaus. He makes Levi's feast His own. He answers the Pharisees: " Don't complain, I came not to call the righteous but sinners." I came, I spread the feast, not Levi. Levi had spread the feast, but he spread it in deep-hearted sympathy with the mind of his Master. Had you ever in your house a table of which the Lord could say that He spread it, and not you? that He could appropriate it? How blessed to get into such personal intimacy with Him! Oh, let the Pharisees to this day break their heads over this! What villainous Pharisaism lurks about you and me I What should we do if Christ had not come to spread a table for poor sinners? It is joy in Christ you and I want. If we had more of that, we should have more victory over the world. •
The Lord then puts a most interesting figure before their thoughts. It is the bustle of the bridechamber we are in now. We are on the way to the marriage. It is a happy bustle-the foreshadowing of a blissful day. Is your spirit breathing that atmosphere? Do you know the activities that suit the children of the bridechamber? Oh, if I knew the atmosphere that suits the place preparing for the joys of Christ, the old wine would have little power over me!