13. Sorrowing for an Absent Christ
13
Sorrowing for an Absent Christ1
But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping.
—John 20:11
Here is a strange thing to think about. The Lord’s own disciples ran away from seeking Him. One of them had said, “If all should forsake thee, yet shall I never forsake thee,” and yet here is a woman more forward and more constant in seeking Christ than he is, for all his fair profession. It is not fair words and a golden profession that will take a soul to heaven and make us seek Christ rightly. We are all greatly indebted to saving grace in our seeking Christ. Here is a woman more forward in seeking Christ than all His eleven disciples are. Because she did not complete her errand that she was seeking, she could not get Christ, and therefore she will not leave, or give up, but will wait on and seek Him. A soul that is in love with Christ never completes his errand till he gets Christ Himself. You that are seeking Christ, never give over seeking till you meet with Him, for they shall at last meet with Him who lie at His door, seeking, as this woman did, who say, “I shall lie still at Thy door. Let me die there if Thou likest, and albeit it should come to that, I shall die, ere I go away and do not meet with Him.” You may know the ardent desire of a soul after Christ can be satisfied with nothing but Himself.
We used to say the thing that one longs for is the thing he must have, and no other thing will satisfy him. A man that is hungry and longing for meat must have meat, and meat only, or else he is not satisfied, even if he gets some other thing. For a man that is in prison and longs to be free, nothing will satisfy him but liberty. Even so it is with this woman at this time; although the disciples were with her, yet nothing could comfort her till she got her lovely Lord whom she was seeking. Learn that lesson of spiritual importunity, never to give over seeking Christ when once you have begun it. Blessed are they that spend their time this way, in seeking Christ.
Mary stayed there weeping for want of Him and yet looking into the grave to see if He were there. That is a good and blessed desire and sorrow that is accompanied with doing. That is heaven’s sorrow indeed that is accompanied with doing and using the means. There are two things said of Jacob (Hos. 12:4): that he wept and wrestled in prayer with God. What is the advantage of a dumb sorrow for the want of Christ? But it is a right sorrow for want of Christ that is joined with using the means to get Him. As it is in Solomon’s Song 3:3, the spouse wants Christ there; she uses all means to get Him again. She goes to the watchmen and says to them, “Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?” She goes round about the city and to the daughters of Jerusalem and charges them. That proves that her sorrow is a right sorrow for the want of Christ. And you know what sort of tears the Scripture says Christ had (Heb. 5:7). He shed tears while He was in His flesh, and also He offered up prayers and strong cries to Him who was able to save Him and was heard in that He feared. And that is the grief and sorrow that will only hold the feet when men are sorrowful for want of Christ and also use the means to get Him, and not those who have only a mere wish for Christ and will not forego a morning or a night’s sleep to meet with Him. That sorrow that is so is but a vain sorrow and will do no good.
1. Quaint Sermons, 75–77.