WE have seen in the last chapter that, though great was the manifestation of mercy to Israel, yet so unfit were they for the disclosure, so little ready to appreciate it, that the marvelous service of Jesus to Jairus’ daughter (so typical of His heart’s desire and purpose toward the whole house of Israel) is not to be made public. The charge is “that they should tell no man what was done;” and yet this chapter unfolds to us, not One declining any more to serve a people so unworthy of it, but, on the contrary, enduing His twelve disciples with power to counteract and remove their sorrows. Grace, like a flowing stream, only accumulates an expression of its power as every fresh barrier is raised against it. This was largely shown to the Jew. Twelve new currents of blessing must now permeate their land, carrying with them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases, to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. And so great is the effect of this combined movement that the tetrarch on his throne is “perplexed.” He had beheaded John, once happy harbinger of all this mighty blessing. The tender budding of it as a bitter frost he had nipped. He who from his throne had all but crushed it in its infant state, now bears testimony to Christ’s wondrous mission, and, conscience-smitten, desires to see Him. Can any Jewish caviler say: “Jesus gave not sufficient evidence of Himself to the house of Israel”? Their King who, without remorse, did imbrue his hands in the blood of Christ’s herald, is now so convinced that he desires to see Him—Him the personification of all the power he had contumaciously rejected in the execution of John the Baptist! The virus of rejection originates with the throne. The tide of conviction now reaches the throne. The apostles having returned from their mission, and given in a detail of their task, Jesus leads them “aside privately into a desert place belonging to a city called Bethsaida.” Whether “the house of provision” or not we shall shortly see, for thither Jesus is followed by the people when “they knew it,” and He receives them in all the fullness of His grace, and, still unwearied in His service towards them, “spoke unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing;” but here He also teaches the emptiness of all earthly pretension. At Bethsaida, “the house of provision,” there is no sustainment for the followers of Christ. As at Nain, “the beautiful place,” the dark hand of death had changed the scene only to be repaired by Him who can make all things new. So here, He Himself is the fountain of supply. If earth and earthly things fail, Jesus can meet, and more than meet, the need of His people. Twelve baskets full of fragments attest the more manifold blessings which will flow from Mm than from the most honored place in Israel.
Now, the question must be propounded to His disciples—the future nucleus of blessing— “Whom say the people that I am?”
This occurs when the Lord is “alone” from man, and abstracted unto God. The answer declares the effect of His services to Israel.
He was said to be “John the Baptist, or Elias, or one of the old prophets,” but none but Peter knew Him. None but he said “the Christ of God;” but none yet must didactically remove the veil from the heart of Israel. The disciples are “commanded to tell no man that thing,” but rather to learn for themselves the path of unearthly expectation which following Him would demand. And to sustain them in this path, not by what earth could provide, not from the supplies of the failing Bethsaida of this world, but from a heavenly sphere, does He reveal to them, “ere they should taste of death”(as unreached by that wide-spreading, unsparing scourge, as unconscious “whether in the body or out of the body,” 2 Cor. 12: 3), the glory of God’s kingdom.
On the mountain, in prayer with God—above the earth, and separated in spirit from it—does He reveal to Peter, John, and James, the power of glory. The fashion of His countenance is altered, and His raiment white glistering. Moses, for whose body the devil contended, and Elias, for whom fifty sons of the prophets three days did seek, are manifested in glory. In personal intimacy with Jesus, they talked with Him of the great results of His sorrowing service here—His ἔξοδον, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem. The disciples betray how little they are prepared for such a scene; they are either heavy with sleep, or they only awake to prove a wrong judgment. To assimilate this wondrous glory to something earthly, Peter places the Lord of glory on an equality with Moses and Elias, perhaps comparing the scene to a feast of tabernacles, the most celebrated of earthly festivals. But a cloud intercepts all earthly hopes and plans, and a voice out of the cloud proclaims that Jesus is chief.
“This is my beloved Son, hear Him.” The right estimate of Jesus is learned in the glory; and Peter afterwards, speaking of this scene, describes it as “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.... His majesty.” (2 Peter 1:1010Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: (2 Peter 1:10).) The majesty of Jesus, learned in the glory by men as yet unreached by death, discloses to us, then, only that high place of attainment in which the apostle says, “Of such an one will I glory.” (2 Cor. 12:55Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. (2 Corinthians 12:5).) No earthly connection, service, or gift, entitled him to glory; elevation into this scene alone entitled him; but then he was not only unearthly, but unconscious of a link with earth.
This revelation was necessary to sustain the disciples in the path of unearthly expectation which He had been unfolding to them; and hence, when they return again on that path, an incident occurs which exposes the nature and violence of the power arrayed against them. “When they came down from the hill,” a man of the company beseeches Him for his only child—the earthly hope of the father centered in this child. But this condition is: “A spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out, and it teareth him that he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him.” There are two important features in this scene which does not present themselves in other cases of Satanic possession. The suppliant here is not the sufferer: the sufferer appears to have seasons of respite. This manifestation of suffering, and the inability of the disciples to remove it, call forth from the Lord a censure on this generation for faithlessness and perverseness, the two great causes of our difficulty in encountering the power against us on earth; and because of them, Satan affects us in the humiliating manner here described. On the way to Jesus, “yet a coming,” he gains us no reprieve. It is no easy thing to, be rid of Satan. We must not expect deliverance without being “thrown down and torn.” When Satan has done his worst, when you are humbled and torn before men, then you know the comfort and rest of the healing of Jesus. Jesus knew what His disciples would have to suffer if they would learn, from glory, to hear the beloved Son. This is here depicted for them, and then He tells them to let these sayings (λόγους) sink down into your ears, for I myself will have to pass through bruisings and tearings. “The Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.” “But they understood not this saying,” but only offer fresh evidence of how little led they are above earthly hope, for they reason among them “which of them should be greatest.” Oh, how slowly we all learn our place and portion! How needful for the disciples, as for us, to receive a Spirit which would bring to remembrance the teachings of Christ!
A helpless babe is a disciple’s proper earthly condition: assuming nothing, neither important enough to forbid anybody, nor affecting power even in judgment on those who will not “receive” the Lord of glory. Our place is to follow Him, as the lowest and most unprovided for in creation. As to earth, “the foxes and the birds of the air” have the advantage. Neither respect for “the dead,” nor affection for the living, “at home at my house,” must divert the sincere follower of Christ from the plough of service he has put his hand to. Such ought to be the miserable expectancy of Christ’s servant on earth. Alas! how few have learned it.