Chapter 11: THE SHEPHERD ON THE WATCH
Chapter 11: THE SHEPHERD ON THE WATCH
Matt, xviii. 1-22; xix. 23-30; xxi. 18-22
"Thou know'st our bitterness — our joys are Thine —
No stranger Thou to all our wanderings wild:
Nor could we bear to think, how every line
Of us, Thy darken'd likeness and defiled,
Stands in full sunshine of Thy piercing eye,
But that Thou call'st us Brethren: sweet repose
Is in that word — the Lord who dwells on high
Knows all, yet loves us better than He knows."
—Kehle.
IN HIS HIGH-PRIESTLY prayer, recorded in John xvii. our Lord, speaking specially of His Apostles, said: "While I was with them in the world I kept them in Thy Name: those that Thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition." In this allusion to His keeping we have a glimpse into the cure of souls, in which the Master was and is constantly engaged. He was no hireling.
When He saw the stealthy approach of the wolf, so far from fleeing, He went before the little flock (as He called the Apostolic band) and encountered the foe.
He knew that the shepherd would be smitten, and the sheep scattered; but He never desisted from warning them day and night with tears. He saw that Satan had desired to sift them as wheat and had obtained his desire, and He had specially prayed for the one whose temperament might belie him into momentary denial, but whose love He never doubted, and whose dementing agony of soul He foresaw.
We must never forget that our Lord dealt with His Apostles, not only in a group, but as individuals; not in the abstract, but the concrete; that He studied their idiosyncrasies, and administered special correction or instruction as each required. His words, therefore, as recorded by the Evangelists, had probably a special reference to encourage or repress some trait of character which He had noticed. Each of that inner circle had strong personal characteristics, which must be studied and trained, before they were prepared for the special work which awaited them, as foundation stones in the New Jerusalem.
It would appear that Judas and Peter gave Him most concern. The one because his nature was so secretive and subtle, the other because his fervid and impulsive temperament was constantly hurrying him into extreme positions, from which he needed to be extricated. At one moment he would say, "Depart from me"; at the next he would leave all to follow. Now he has won the high encomium, "Blessed art thou"; and again he is addressed as Satan. In the same breath, "Thou shalt never wash my feet," and "not my feet only." Within a single hour he is ready to fight for the Master, whom he passionately loved, and denies that he had ever known Him. That such an one should ultimately be taught stability of character, enabling him to lead the Church in its conflict with a world-in-arms, presented a serious problem to his Master and Friend.
He never doubted the sincerity of his affection, but was sorely tried by its fitful and impulsive exhibitions.
The Case of Judas. — We may not linger over the Lord's watch and warning in the case of Judas, but many of His sayings must have been suggested by the change which was passing over the once-promising young man from Kerioth. He perceived with bitter sorrow that the love of money was eating out his soul, and in many of His utterances must have had him in mind. "A man's bitterest foe may arise from his own household." "No disciple of Mine should provide gold, silver, or brass in his purse for personal use." "A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of things that he possesses." "Dives lifted up his eyes, being in torments." "The unfaithful servant was cut asunder, and his portion was appointed among the unbelievers." "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon," "Comrade, stop and bethink thee, ere it is too late, to what a degree of wickedness and ingratitude thou art come." These words are applicable to us all, but they had special significance for Judas; and perhaps — speaking after the manner of men — they were elicited by the special significance of his alarming deterioration.
Similarly we may trace a personal reference to Peter's condition of soul during the latter months of our Lord's earthly ministry.
The Case of Peter. — There were several particulars in regard to which he needed to be specially cautioned and strengthened: —
(i) In the Struggle for Pre-eminence. Though Peter is not specially mentioned, we are not doing him a manifest injustice to suppose that he took a prominent part in the hot disputes which broke out from time to time, especially after our Lord's award of the keys, the reference to the significance of his name, and his inclusion with two others in that memorable Transfiguration scene. The probability of this supposition is confirmed by the fact, recorded by Mark, writing at Peter's own dictation, that when our Lord reached Capernaum, on His return from Mount Hermon, on entering "the house," which, of course, was Peter's, He asked them, "What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?" At first they held their peace, for by the way they had disputed among themselves who should be the greatest. Then He sat down, and called them all around Him, and said: "The only way in which a man can become first in My Kingdom is by being last of all and servant of all." Then He took a child — tradition says that it was one of Peter's own children, who afterwards became the Bishop and Martyr Ignatius — folded the happy boy in His arms,, and said: "Whosoever shall receive one of such children in My Name receiveth Me."
The struggle for supremacy broke out again, when James and John endeavoured to secure a verdict in their favour by getting their mother to ask for the right-hand and left-hand places in the Kingdom. And on the eve of the Betrayal there was a recurrence of the same strife, which hindered every one of them from volunteering, in the absence of a servant, to wash the feet of the rest, though the ewer and towel, provided by the thoughtful courtesy of the host, were there ready to their hand.
Probably this ambition for the foremost place led Peter to insist that though all the others failed and forsook in the approaching hour of trial, certainly he might be counted on, "Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. Though I should die with Thee, yet will I not deny Thee" And he meant every word he spoke.
We have just used the word ambition; but there were softening, sweetening ingredients in his strenuous affirmations. There were present, at least, a passionate devotion, a resolve that no hurt, which he could ward off, should touch that revered body, and the inner consciousness that it would be easier and far better to die with Christ than live without Him.
But if our Lord's warnings as to the peril of His Apostle were not availing, then probably nothing could so effectually have burnt out this love of pre-eminence as the denial and failure of the betrayal night. We find no traces of the old spirit in the subsequent references to our Apostle. He takes, indeed, the foremost place in the incidents related in Acts i. and ii. without ostentation or affectation; but in the First Council of the Church, described in Acts xv., the presidency is occupied by James, whilst Peter contributes his opinion, as one amongst the rest. Finally, in his First Epistle, he exhorts the elders on the ground, not of his Apostolate, but of being himself an elder and an eyewitness of the sufferings of Christ; and, surely, it is not in entire forgetfulness of his own failure that he adds: Feed the flock of God, "not as being lords over God's heritage, but as examples to the flock."
(2) In Respect to Forgiveness. On one occasion, when the Lord had been giving instruction on the duty of forgiveness, Peter broke in with the inquiry, "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? '' and further suggested that seven times was the limit, which he could not be expected to exceed.
Our Lord swept away the suggestion as unthinkable.
It was an old Jewish notion, which must be utterly submerged in the love that He would shed abroad on the world. Calvary and Pentecost would open sluicegates of unlimited mercy. "Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times, but until seventy times seven." Then, in the parable of the unforgiving servant, which followed, sin against a fellow-man was contrasted with the enormity of sin against God; and the Divine compassion, which releases and forgives debts of ten thousand talents, was described in glowing words, though the Divine Speaker said nothing of the cost in ransom blood which He would soon be paying in flowing streams from His own heart.
Our Lord knew, though Peter had no inkling of it, that an hour was near when His Apostle would find himself guilty of a ten-thousand-talent sin, compared with which the vilest affront ever received from a fellow-mortal would appear to be but as an hundred pence; and at such time he would cling to the hope suggested by this parable, as a drowning man to the rope thrown out for his rescue.
May we not imagine Peter hurrying through the streets, on which the grey dawn was breaking sadly, and making for the garden, where only three or four hours before he had slept whilst his Master was in agony. How could he have said those terrible words? That he had failed where he had vowed to be strong, and had added oaths and cursings which had not soiled his lips for many years! That the Master had heard all! And that look! What could he say, or whither go? Should he take his life? Remorse was choking his breath. Then there stole over his heart the words: "I say not unto thee, Until seven times, but until seventy times seven." Did my Lord expect me to do so much, and will He not do the same? And did He not say that the lord of the servant was moved with compassion, released the poor debtor at his feet, and forgave a debt of ten thousand talents? Surely He must have meant me! And long after he wrote: "Love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil, but contrariwise blessing. . . . He bare our sins in His own body on the tree. . . . Love covereth the multitude of sins."
(3) In the Matter of Reward. When the young man, unable to pay the price of discipleship, had turned sorrowfully away, Peter broke in on the Saviour's disappointment with the question: "Lo! we have left all and followed Thee, what shall we have therefore?" Clearly the hope of reward was bulking largely on his vision. There would surely be a conspicuously handsome return for the sacrifices and privations that discipleship had involved, to say nothing of those to which the Master frequently alluded as imminent. But bargain-making after this fashion was clearly inadmissible in the Kingdom of Heaven, and therefore the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard was uttered to teach, in unforgetable imagery, that in the service of God a spirit of trust in His grace must exorcise and supersede a spirit of bargaining and barter.
The labourers had waited in the market-place from early dawn. It was through no fault of theirs that they were not on the hillside among the vines. " No man had hired them." It was not until almost sundown that they had their chance. But when, after one brief hour of service, they came to be paid, they received a whole day's pay for that brief spell. Their reward was reckoned not as of debt, but of grace. It was in happy mood that these short-time men made for their homes. Their women-folk had watched them standing in the market-place all through the day, and had made up their minds to pinch and scrape; but here was a day's wage placed in their hands. Yes! What the owner of the vineyard had been heard saying to one of the grumblers, "Is thine eye evil, because I am good/* was perfectly true — he was good.
It was as if our Lord had said, in answer to Peter's question: "It is true that thou camest early into the vineyard. Thou wert among the first. Also, thou hast borne the burden and heat of the day, and more also is to fall to thy lot; but when thou hast completed the task, thou wilt only have done thy duty, and thy reward will be according to the riches of God's grace."
This also in coming days may have afforded the broken-hearted Apostle some comfort, as he said to himself: "It is true that I was among the first to obey the Master's summons, but I have forfeited all right to reward, even if once I cherished some hope of merit: I am not worthy to be called an Apostle; I take my place with the woman who was a sinner, and with Zaccheus the publican; but the Master said that the reward was not determined by service, but by grace. It is not of him that willeth or worketh, but of God that shows mercy. God be merciful to me the sinner, and in me first may the Master show forth all longsuffering."
(4) In Regard to Faith. As they passed by one morning they saw a withered figtree which had been cursed with barrenness on the previous day, as a warning to the Apostles and to Israel. And Peter, calling to remembrance, saith unto Jesus, "Rabbi, behold, the figtree which Thou cursedst is withered away." And Jesus, answering, saith unto them, "Have faith in God." A better rendering of that remarkable injunction would be. Hold on to God's Faith; or. Reckon on God's Faithfulness.
We lay stress, and rightly so, on Faith; but there are days in human life when our faith seems about to expire, like a tiny taper in a storm of wind. We cry, "Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief, for my unbelief is more than my belief." Our faith is as a grain of mustard seed, the least of all seeds, whilst our difficulties block our path like a mountain-range. Even the Saviour Himself feels bound to interpose a prayer lest our faith fail utterly. Then it is a source of infinite consolation to turn our thoughts away from our faith to God's Faithfulness, to hold on to it, to reckon on it, and to cry: "If we believe not, He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself."
In that storm-burst which broke on Peter's soul on that fateful night, with what comfort must he have stayed himself on these precious words: "Hold on to God's Faith; Reckon on God's Faithfulness; Dare to believe that He abideth Faithful and is not Unrighteous to forget." His own faith had failed, but God's Faithfulness was like the great mountains.