The Response Of Love

by Geo.E.Stockwell | Category: General | Jun 1936

THOUGHTS ON JOHN 19. 38 TO 20. 18.

The scene at the hewn-out tomb where the body of the Lord Jesus was laid, well deserves our close attention. Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus, had with loving hands taken the body of the Lord away from the cross and bound it with linen cloths after anointing it with that hundred pound weight of spices. (John 19. 38-42.)

These men counted nothing too precious to be used on the One whom they loved and whose disciples they were.

It was Nicodemus, who at the first came to the Lord Jesus by night, who was the first to hear those wonderful words- "As Moses LIFTED UP the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be LIFTED Up:"

(John 3. 14).

No doubt Nicodemus had ofttimes read the account in the hook of Numbers (chapter 21.), how Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness that the bitten Israelites might look to it and live. But on that memorable night when he came to the One whom he addressed as "Rabbi ... Thou art a teacher come from God," he was instructed that the incident pointed to "The Son of Man" who would be lifted up on the cross.

How suggestive then, that it should be Nicodemus who was one of the two disciples who took down the precious dead body of the Lord from the cross, where He, "The Son of Man," had been LIFTED Up!

Nicodemus had read of it in type in the Pentateuch; he had been told its meaning by the Lord Himself; and finally he - had actually witnessed its fulfilment. How appropriate then, that he should be one of the two men so highly favoured of God as to be permitted to take away the sacred body of the Saviour from the cross at Golgotha! Nicodemus, though somewhat of a secret disciple, yet in his heart ever cherished a true affection for the One whom he first spoke of as " a Teacher come from God," and at the time

when others had forsaken the Lord

and fled, he was present to shew his love and appreciation by anointing the Lord's body with that precious mixture of myrrh and aloes.

The spear-wounded and nailed-scarred body of the Lord had now been carefully placed in Joseph of Arimathea's new tomb. A great stone had been placed at its entrance, and had been. sealed with the Roman seal. Soldiers had guarded it (as far as they could), but on the first day of the week when Mary Magdalene came very early in the morning she saw that the stone had been removed. Mary ran to Simon Peter, and the other disciple, "whom Jesus loved," saying,

"They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we know not where they have laid Him." So the two disciples ran together to the tomb and saw that it was empty, and finally they "went away again unto their own home."

"But Mary was standing without at the tomb weeping." What a striking contrast we have here! The disciples away to their homes, but Mary at the tomb. It is little wonder then that it was to Mary that the Lord revealed Himself first. How significant is the statement, "But Mary was standing without at the tomb weeping!" Those words are fraught with meaning. They reveal how greatly she felt the loss when her Lord was, as she supposed, suddenly and rudely taken away. Her heart found no rest, no satisfaction anywhere or in anything

-all she could do was to wait at the place where He had been laid and pour out her feelings in tears.

Such was the sight the two angels saw-a lonely woman weeping! They say unto her, "Woman why weepest thou?" How expressive of her heart's yearning was her answer-what a wealth of meaning lies therein! Notice now how she uses the personal pronoun "MY" instead of the article "the," saving- "Because they have taken away MY LORD, and I know not where they have laid Him." John 20. 13.

She counted Him as her own-" My Lord," as it were as though He belonged to her only. Does not this bring to our minds the words of "the Song of songs "-" My beloved is mine and I am His "-does not this sentiment seem to be the expression of her heart?

Oh if we counted Him as our own in this personal way, what a difference it would make in our lives! Too often we get slack and careless in our desires towards Him. Perhaps our attitude is like the bride in the Song of songs when her beloved came and said, "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled." Her response to that loving invitation to communion was not the language of love and heart devotion, but shewed how far from him she was by her answer-" I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?"

If we apply this in principle to ourselves, how heart searching! How humbling! Do we forget the price He paid -to make us His own? And do we forget that He belongs to each one of us as a personal Saviour? Is He not a faithful "Friend" in a particular way. A faithful Guide and a true Comforter? Oh what a Saviour is ours! Ought not the language of our hearts to ever be, "Yea, He is altogether lovely. This is MY BELOVED, and this is MY FRIEND" (Song of songs 5. 16).

How Mary's heart must have leapt with joy as she stood at the entrance of the tomb and heard the voice of the Lord Himself calling her by her own name--" MARY." We think we see how the first impulse of her longing heart was to fall at His feet and embrace Him-to lay hold of Him lest He should go again, for He said-" Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father!"

What a voice all this should have to our souls! As we consider Mary's love for the Lord, may it arouse our hearts and beget love for the Lord in us, that our love might be a replica of her's.

It was that Mary from whom the Lord had cast out seven demons, and she could never be grateful enough for what did. How is it with ourselves? Having been saved from t consequences of our sins (and if we are in communion with Hi being saved daily from the power of sin) with the certain that at His coming we shall be saved from the presence sin,-then surely it becomes us to esteem His wondrous grace to more and more,-that we may ever desire His presence, an being found in His presence that our ears be ever sensitive to His voice.

"Let naught with Him our hearts divide Since He for us was crucified."

Geo.E.Stockwell | Jun 1936
General