Jottings

by Miller, J. | Category: General | Oct 1957

The Lord took little thought for the needs of His own body, but He was careful in this matter in regard to His disciples. In Mark 3.19-21 we are told, "And He cometh into a house. And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread, and when His friends (or relations, no doubt His mother and brethren of verse 82) heard it, they went out to lay hold on Him: "For they said, He is beside Himself." They thought that He had gone out of His mind. But the scribes who had come from Jerusalem put a far worse meaning upon His zeal and actions; they said that He was demon-possessed, and said, "He hath Beelzebub, and, by the prince of devils (demons) casteth He out the devils (demons) " (verse 22). So serious did the Lord view this accusation of the scribes, that He said, "All their sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and their blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: but whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath never forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin : because they said, " He hath an unclean spirit " (verses 28-30).

As He made clear by His judgement of the blasphemy of thy scribes the seriousness of their position, He equally shewed that in relation to His Divine Being and the purpose for which He had come to earth, His relations, that is His mother and His brethren, had no precedence over any who did God's will: "And looking round on them that sat round about Him, He saith, Behold My mother and My brethren ! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother, and sister and mother" (verses 34, 35).

Whilst the Lord was unmindful of His own needs, He was very considerate of those of His disciples, and of others also " And He saith unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest awhile. For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desert place apart" (Mark 6 30-2) Quiet and rest are as necessary as rest and labour. Both the Lord and His disciples had been spending themselves in their work for others. The disciples came and told Him what they had done and what they had taught. But they must not be taken up with their own work and teaching, they must have time to sit at His feet and to hear Him. How soon barrenness of soul will invade us if we fail to have our quiet time apart with Him! He has many things to say to us and to teach us, so we must take time. Is not this the cause of much shallowness, both of tin understanding of the word and of much that is taught these days?

Instead of there being a fulness of rich thought, the fare is scanty and poor in quality. If we are to feed others spiritually, we must first of all be filled ourselves. The quiet and refreshment of the desert place was soon disturbed by an invasion of thousands of people. Luke 9.11 tells us that He welcomed them. Some brought their sick with them and He healed them; but they were in need. They were like sheep without a shepherd. But He was the Good Shepherd. "Send them away," said the disciples, but He in His great love could not send away the needy. The disciples had procured only five loaves and two small fishes, just enough or barely enough for an evening meal for twelve. "Give ye them to eat," was His command, but how could they? What were five loaves to feed five thousand men? Hardly a crumb for each He commanded that the people should sit down on the green grass in order, by fifties and hundreds. Of the loaves and fishes He said, "Bring them hither to Me" (Matthew 14.18). It was as Cowper has ably described the scene

'Twas seed time when He blessed the bread, And harvest when He brake."

He fed the multitudes. He gave to each of tin twelve a basketful. But where was His portion ? He took no thought for Himself in His thought for others.

It is clear from several portions of the Gospels that the Lord took little thought for His own need as He ministered to the need of others. This comes out in His meeting with the Samaritan woman at Sychar's well (John 4). He had asked a drink of water from her, but she did not respond, as Rebekah did to the request of Abraham's servant in Genesis 24.45, 46. Instead, the Samaritan woman asked how it was that He, being a Jew, was asking a drink of water from her a Samaritan woman. How graciously He spoke to her There was no evidence of irritation at her not giving Him a drink, nor was there any rancour in all that He said. His reply was, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water." He led her along in their conversation until He gave her a drink of that living water, but the story does not reveal that she gave Him a drink. The fact that she left her waterpot when she went into the city seems to indicate that it had not been used when she left it.

Then the return of the disciples with the provision they had bought in Sychar indicates this same abandonment of His own need. When they saw He was speaking with the woman they marvelled. It says, "In the mean while the disciples prayed Him saying, Rabbi eat. But He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not." At this the disciples were perplexed and wondered if someone had brought Him something to eat. But He soon cleared up their uncertainty. He said, " My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to accomplish His work." How much depended on this! The whole future of tin human race depended on it, and also the glory of God. Had the work of God not been accomplished by Him then that word had had no fulfilment, " I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do" (John 17. 4). Every detail of that stupendous work must be completed, and thus day by day in complete abandonment of His own needs, of rest or leisure, amidst enemies more than the hairs of His head, whose scorn was heaped on Him, He pursued the course of doing His Father's will. He well knew the purpose of His coming, which He expressed in Matthew 20.28, "The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." His conduct was to be that of His disciples, as He also expressed in the same place. " Whosoever would be great among you shall be your minister; and whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant."

Side by side in Luke 14 we have the contrast drawn between self-love and self-interest and the renouncing of self and all that one has in order to follow the Lord. The excuses of those bidden to the great supper reveal this self-love and self-interest. Their own things came first - a field, five yoke of oxen, and a wife were placed first by each as substantial excuses why they should not come. These are specimens of a vast number of things which keep men back from doing the Lord's will. It gets back to the great obstacle of self. After the Lord had spoken the parable of the great supper, He turned to the great multitudes and said, "If any man cometh unto Me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke i4. 25-27). Here are tests as to which is first, self, life, relatives, or the Lord.

Miller, J. | Oct 1957
General