Chapter 6: THE SECOND PRIMER
Chapter 6: THE SECOND PRIMER
Luke iv. 1-13; John vi. 1-21; Matthew xiv. 22-23
"He might have built a palace at a word,
Who sometimes had not where to lay His head,
Time was, that He who nourished crowds with bread,
Would not one meal unto Himself afford.
Oh, self-denying love, which felt alone
For needs of others — never for its own!"
— Trench.
GOD'S POWER IN Nature awaits the use of any who will be wise and humble enough to study and obey the necessary conditions of its operation. The difference between the civilized and the savage races is largely that the former have learnt to avail themselves of the primal forces that hide in the flowing current, the wind, steam, electricity, or finally the ether; whilst the latter rely entirely on their agile or muscular limbs. Machinery is simply the cunning contrivance with which we endeavour to obey natural laws, with the inevitable result that the force behind them shall do our bidding. And there is no respect of persons. Whatever he may be, rich or poor, simple or learned, high-born or low-born, the son of a pauper or a monarch, he who desires Nature's cooperation can secure it, if he is prepared to pay the price of obedience to her inexorable conditions.
This is equally true of the operation of the Divine Spirit. He is prepared to cooperate with any who will faithfully fulfil His conditions. The poor, the weak, the despised, the nobodies of this world, can command and enjoy the greatest manifestations of the Divine energy equally with the cultured and refined. A turbine may drive a small sawmill or a big factory of spindles. Indeed, the simple and child-like dispositions can often make most of God, because they are most lowly and helpless in their self-estimate. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they are rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom.
It is therefore very necessary, not only for Apostles, but for us all, to learn the conditions on which spiritual power operates; and these are clearly set forth in the threefold temptation through which our Lord passed at the opening of His ministry. Let us adopt the order of the Third Gospel.
1. We must refuse to employ Divine Power for selfish uses. Then we may he trusted with it on behalf of others, and God will see to our needs.
2. True Rulership is won, not by conflict or force of arms, hut by service, sacrifice, and suffering unto death.
3. Divine Power is granted, never for purposes of vainglory of ostentation, hut for the help and blessing of others.
The statement of these three principles may vary, but their essence is as invariable as Newton's law of motion.
That Peter, the man of vehement force and energy, should become aware of them was especially needful, because in after-days he was to give witness with great spiritual power to the coming and glory of his Master and Lord. By an evident prearrangement of Divine Providence they were all compressed into experiences narrated by all the Evangelists, but especially in John vi.
I. TRUSTEESHIP FOR OTHERS DEPENDS ON THE DENIAL OF SELF. — At the given time and place, which had probably been prearranged, the Apostles gathered back to the Master, to tell Him what things they had done and taught. They needed an opportunity to discuss their recent experiences, to get guidance on their difficulties, and to share their joys. Almost immediately on their gathering back to Him the news reached them that John the Baptist — known, honoured, and loved by them all — had been treacherously murdered by the royal command in the dungeons of the Castle of Machaerus, on the edge of the eastern desert. These rumours were confirmed by the arrival of his disciples, who had evidently feared the worst, had requested, not without peril to themselves, for the custody of the beloved remains, had buried them, and now had come to tell Jesus. It was clear that the tide of opposition was rising against the new movement. Wisdom suggested a temporary retirement from the public eye, and grief required seclusion in order to recover from the hurricane of desolation. It had quickly darkened the entire outlook, which had seemed so promising. "And He said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert (i. e., an uninhabited) place and rest awhile: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat."
Entering the boat, they directed its course to the northeast comer of the lake, where the shore sloped up from the beach to a grassy plain of considerable expanse, and this in turn climbed to a noble forest of oaks. In the spacious amplitude of that sequestered spot where many glades and glens, where tired brains and sad hearts could be recuperated. The people, however, had noticed the course taken by the boat, and, hastening in a vast concourse round the head of the lake, presented an audience which appealed to Christ as the spectacle of a harried flock of sheep would appeal to the heart of a true shepherd.
Immediately our Lord subordinated all other considerations to the necessity of meeting the infinite need of more than ten thousand people. "He was moved with compassion, and healed their sick." ..."He began to teach them many things." But the most astounding experience of any was that which closed the day. With five barley-loaves and two small fishes, which Peter's brother, Andrew, had discovered in the wallet of a small boy — who with great pride and love had surrendered them, and whose faith perhaps afforded our Lord the human element which He always required — Jesus fed the whole vast crowd. "They did all eat, and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments and of the fishes."
Peter and the rest of the Apostles must have been fairly staggered by that experience. They could never forget it. Often, in after-days, when their simple story and appeal were used for the conversion of thousands, they would revert to this counterpart in the physical and material sphere. At the moment, however, they were confronted by the extraordinary contrast between their Master's poverty and His prodigal hospitality.
He had told them that they were to take nothing for their journey, save a staff only. What was the good of a wallet, when there was no bread to put in it? They had also heard, probably from His own lips, the story of His forty days' fast, when He was tempted to use His power as the Beloved Son to turn the stones of the desert into bread. But evidently all the time He had the power of producing bread. Why had He not used it for His own need? Why had He not given them banquet upon banquet? Why did He sometimes in the early morning search a fig-tree on the roadside for a chance fig?
It seemed a strange paradox, but the paradox contained at its heart a vital truth. God will trust no one with His power who will use it for his own satisfaction and indulgence. We are tested in the wilderness by lonely hours, by long abstinence from the things that others crave and enjoy; and only when we have satisfactorily passed the test does God allow us to make full use of that power for the salvation and enrichment of others. This is the reason for the wilderness experience, which baffles and perplexes us. Is God angry with us? No! Has He forgotten to be gracious? No! Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? No! Why, then, this desert? He is testing thee before He entrusts thee with the plenitude of His power. Meanwhile angels shall minister to thee at the end of thy forty days.
II. RULERSHIP DEPENDS ON SELF-GIVING. — After the meal the crowd seems to have been swept by a sudden impulse to make Jesus their leader in a determined revolt against their Roman oppressors. Here was a greater than Judas Maccabaeus! The movement would be eagerly fostered by Judas of Kerioth and by Simon the Zealot. They had been waiting for this hour, and hoped to force Christ's hand. But He would have none of it. He had already fought this question out in the wilderness, when the devil had offered Him the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them. In that offer, as our Lord indicated in His interview with Pilate, there was an implication that force would be needed: "If My Kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight." He swerved not by a hairbreadth of deviation from that great position. He knew only too well that the kingdoms of this world could never become His by force of arms, but at the price of agony and bloody sweat, of the Cross and Passion, and of the Death on Calvary.
He therefore first constrained His disciples to get into the boat, and put forth from the shore, whilst He sent away the people, with ah authority that they could not dispute. Then, retiring to the mountain solitudes.
He (speaking after the manner of men) resolved that on the following day He would adopt a style of speech which would effectually shatter any further proposal of a carnal and worldly kingdom.
We shall have a further opportunity of considering this deliberate change in His policy; it is enough here to note how exactly the Master carried out the original programme formed as the Son of man on the threshold of His public career. What significance this lesson has for us all! It is not by the power of the secular arm, not by might nor by power, not by chariots and horsemen, not by the warrior host, the clash of steel, the victory of the battle or the forum, that the Church is to win her victory; but by service such as the Moravians gave to lepers; by sufferings like those of the martyrs in every age, not least in our own; by the sacrifice of tears and blood — the filling up of that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ — thus, and only thus, does the Kingdom come and is the Father's will done.
III. DIVINE POWER MUST NEVER BE USED FOR PURPOSES OF VAINGLORY OR DISPLAY. — "God will not give His glory to another." "That no flesh should glory in His presence." It is supposed by some that our Lord had appointed His disciples to meet Him at some well-known part of the coast, and that this made them toil so hard at the oar when presently the storm hurled itself down upon the lake. It may have been so, but it is not material to our present purpose. It is enough that He saw them toiling in rowing, and about the fourth watch of the night — i.e., as the grey dawn began to spread through the stormy scene — "He cometh unto them, walking upon the sea." He used the water as the pavement of His approach. So often the storms that threaten us are permitted that we may learn to appreciate more truly the wonderful resources of His nature.
When we take a course which His finger has clearly indicated the difficulties we encounter do not prove that we are wrong, but only that He has some fresh revelation to make of Himself. We can absolutely trust our Lord to take all the risks involved in our liberal obedience to His will. "Storms are the triumph of His art."
But Peter was animated by the spirit of adventure.
It was not in him to remain quietly seated with all the others in the boat till the Lord entered it. They might be satisfied with that quiescent welcome, but he felt that such an occasion called for some special departure on his part, a startling manifestation of love and faith, a conspicuous deed of splendid courage. There was a touch of vainglory and ostentation about it, of which he may have been unaware, though the Master descried it. When therefore Peter asked to be commanded to come to Him on the water, our Lord simply invited him to step out. He stepped forth, but his faith was imperfect, and he began to sink.
In the Lord's grave hour of temptation it had been suggested to Him that He should cast Himself down from the Temple portico to the depths of the valley, treading the air as Peter now attempted to tread the water. The Tempter had added the suggestion that angels would bear Him up in their hands, so that He should alight majestically and unhurt in the valley beneath. He had refused to act on the suggestion, because His Father had not so bidden Him. But there was another moment afterwards when He received from the Father the commandment to lay down His life, to breathe His soul forth in death, and descend the dark valley of shadow. As soon as He knew this to be His unmistakable duty, there was no symptom of hesitation; He became obedient to death, even the death of the Cross. And the everlasting arms of the Father bore Him down in His descent, that thence He might ascend far above all heavens.
There might come times in after-life when in like manner the clear command would come to Peter to step out of the boat of ordinary experience on to the storm waves of persecution and martyrdom, but that hour had not yet come. He was not ripe for it then, nor afterwards when he rehearsed the same action with the same result in the hall of Caiaphas. His motives, which were now full of vainglory and self-confidence, must become purified and clear. Then it would not be needful to await the command to step out, because his duty would be unmistakable.
He began to sink. Though a good swimmer, he did not attempt to swim, but cried for help. Immediately the Lord's hand was stretched forth, and caught him, and they went together to the boat. No rebuke fell from those wise and gentle lips, except the question: "Wherefore didst thou doubt?" Obviously, one reason for his failure was that he watched the turbulence of the elements rather than the face and presence of his Lord. But there was a deeper reason for the failure. His faith was imperfect. There was a flaw in it.
The slightest ingredient of self-hood invalidates faith's action, as Hawker's courageous effort to cross the Atlantic was spoilt by the collection of grains of silt in his filter. If you cannot avail yourself of God's promises, which are Yea and Amen in Christ, be absolutely sure that in some way the step you are making, and which you think to be good and right, is likely to fail, because, almost unconsciously, the element of pride, vainglory, boastfulness, or selfness is deteriorating your soul-life.
Get rid of it by the incessant reference to the Cross.
Mortify your soul-life, with its weak affections and strong desires. Say, with no bated breath, what our Lord said under similar suggestions: "Get thee hence, Satan; thou savourest the things of men, not those of God."
Thus Peter learnt the third lesson of his Second Primer; and it was with the undying impression of that hour that he wrote in after-days the notable advice: "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you."
"Cleanse, O Lord, we beseech Thee, the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love Thee, and worthily magnify Thy Holy Name!"
"I have but Thee, my Father! let Thy Spirit
Be with me still to comfort and uphold;
No gate of pearl, no branch of palm I want.
Nor street of shining gold."
"Suffice It if — my good and ill unreckoned.
And both forgiven through Thy abounding grace —
I find myself by hands familiar beckened
Unto my fitting place."
— Whittier.