I have already said that the clear understanding of the persons to whom
the words were spoken, goes far to interpret the significance of the
words. Here we have at the very beginning, the great thought that every
Christian man and woman is sent by Jesus. The possession of what
preceded this charge is the thing, and the only thing, that fits a man
to receive it, and whoever possesses these is thereby despatched into
the world as being Christ's envoy and representative. And what are
these preceding experiences? The vision of the risen Christ, the touch
of His hands, the peace that He breathed over believing souls, the
gladness that sprang like a sunny fountain in the hearts that had been
so dry and dark. Those things constituted the disciples' qualification
for being sent, and these things were themselves--even apart from the
Master's words--their sending out on their future life's-work. Thus,
whoever--and thank God I am addressing many who come under the
category!--whoever has seen the Lord, has been in touch with Him, and
has felt his heart filled with gladness, is the recipient of this great
commission. There is no question here of the prerogative of a class,
nor of the functions of an order; it is a question of the universal
aspect of the Christian life in its relation to the Master who sends,
and the world into which it is sent.
We Nonconformists pride ourselves upon our freedom from what we call
'sacerdotalism.' Ay! and we Nonconformists are quite willing to assert
our priesthood in opposition to the claims of a class, and are as
willing to forget it, should the question of the duties of the priest
come into view. You do not believe in priests, but a great many of you
believe that it is ministers that are 'sent,' and that you have no
charge. Officialism is the dry-rot of all the Churches, and is found as
rampant amongst democratic Nonconformists as amongst the more
hierarchical communities. Brethren! you are included in Christ's words
of sending on this errand, if you are included in this greeting of
'Peace be unto you!' 'I send,' not the clerical order, not the priest,
but 'you,' because you have seen the Lord, and been glad, and heard the
low whisper of His benediction creeping into your hearts.
Mark, too, how our Lord reveals much of Himself, as well as of our
position, when He thus speaks. For He assumes here the royal tone, and
claims to possess as absolute authority over the lives and work of all
Christian people as the Father exercised when He sent the Son. But we
must further ask ourselves the question, what is the parallel that our
Lord here draws, not only between His action in sending us, and the
Father's action in sending Him, but also between the attitude of the
Son who was sent, and of the disciples whom He sends? And the answer is
this--the work of Jesus Christ is continued by, prolonged in, and
carried on henceforward through, the work that He lays upon His
servants. Mark the exact expression that our Lord here uses. 'As My
Father _hath_ sent,' that is a past action, continuing its consequences
in the present. It is not 'as My Father _did_ send once,' but as 'My
Father _hath_ sent,' which means 'is also at present sending,' and
continues to send. Which being translated into less technical
phraseology is just this, that we here have our Lord presenting to us
the thought that, though in a new form, His work continues during the
ages, and is now being wrought through His servants. What He does by
another, He does by Himself. We Christian men and women do not
understand our function in the world, unless we have realised this:
'Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ' and His interests and His
work are entrusted to our hands.
How shall the servants continue and carry on the work of the Master?
The chief way to do it is by proclaiming everywhere that finished work
on which the world's hopes depend. But note,--'_as_ My Father hath sent
Me, so send I you,'--then we are not only to carry on His work in the
world, but if one might venture to say so, we are to reproduce His
attitude towards God and the world. He was sent to be 'the Light of the
world'; and so are we. He was sent to 'seek and to save that which was
lost'; so are we. He was sent not to do His own will, but the will of
the Father that sent Him; so are we. He took upon Himself with all
cheerfulness the office to which He was appointed, and said, 'My meat
is to do the will of Him that sent Me,--and to finish His work'; and
that must be our voice too. He was sent to pity, to look upon the
multitudes with compassion, to carry to them the healing of His touch,
and the sympathy of His heart; so must we. We are the representatives
of Jesus Christ, and if I might dare to use such a phrase, He is to be
incarnated again in the hearts, and manifested again in the lives, of
His servants. Many weak eyes, that would be dazzled and hurt if they
were to gaze on the sun, may look at the clouds cradled by its side,
and dyed with its lustre, and learn something of the radiance and the
glory of the illuminating light from the illuminated vapour. And thus,
'as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.'