_THE SIGNS OF THE KINGDOM._
MATT. viii.-ix. 35.
Referring to chapter iv. 23, we find the work of Christ at the
beginning of His ministry summarised as teaching and preaching and
healing all manner of diseases. Of the teaching and preaching we have
had a signal illustration in what is called the Sermon on the Mount;
now the other great branch of the work is set before us in a group of
miracles, filling up almost the whole of the eighth and ninth chapters.
The naturalness of the sequence will be at once apparent. If men had
needed nothing more than counsel, guidance, rules of life, then might
the Gospel have ended when the Sermon on the Mount was concluded.
There are those who think they need nothing more; but if they knew
themselves they would feel their need not only of the Teacher's word,
but of the Healer's touch, and would hail with gladness the chapters
which tell how the Saviour dealt with the poor leper, the man with the
palsy, the woman with the fever, those poor creatures that were vexed
with evil spirits, that dead damsel in the ruler's house. We may well
rejoice that the great Teacher came down from the mountain, and made
Himself known on the plain and among the city crowds as the mighty
Healer; that His stern demand for perfect righteousness was so soon
followed by that encouraging word, so full of comfort, for such as we:
"I came not to call the righteous, but sinners" (ix. 13). The healing,
then, is quite as essential as the teaching. The Sermon points out the
way, unfolds the truth; but in the touch and word of the King Himself
is found the life. The Christ of God had come, not as a mere
Ambassador from the court of heaven to demand submission to its laws,
but as a mighty Saviour, Friend, and Comforter. Hence it was necessary
that He should make full proof of His mission in this respect as well
as in the other; and accordingly the noble ethics taught on the mount
are followed by a series of heavenly deeds of power and
loving-kindness done in the plain.
The group in chapters viii. and ix. is well fitted to give a
comprehensive view of Christ's power and willingness to save. If only
they were looked at in this intelligent way, how the paltry prejudices
against "miracles" (a word, let it be observed, not once to be found
in this Gospel) would vanish. Miracles, wonders, prodigies--how
incredible in an age of enlightenment! Yes; if they were introduced as
miracles, wonders, prodigies; but they are not. They are signs of the
kingdom of heaven--just such signs of it as the intelligent reason
demands; for how otherwise is it possible for One Who comes to save to
show that He is able to do it? How could the people have been expected
to welcome Him as a Saviour, unless He had taken some means to make it
evident that He had the power as well as the will to save?
Accordingly, in consonance with what enlightened reason imperatively
demands of such an One as He claims to be, we have a series of "mighty
deeds" of love, showing forth, not only His grace, but His
power--power to heal the diseases of the body, power over the realm of
nature, power over the unseen world of spirit, power to forgive and
save from sin, power to restore lost faculties and conquer death
itself. Such are the appropriate signs of the kingdom spread before us
here.
Let us look first at that which occupies the foremost place,--power to
heal disease. The diseases of the body are the outward symptoms of the
deep-seated malady of the spirit; hence it is fitting that He should
begin by showing in this region His will and power to save. Yet it is
not a formal _showing_ of it. It is no mere demonstration. He
does not seek out the leper, set him up before them, and say, "Now you
will see what I can do." All comes about in a most simple and natural
way, as became Him Who was no wonder-worker, no worker of miracles in
the vulgar use of that word, but a mighty Saviour from heaven with a
heart of love and a hand of power.
THE LEPER (viii. 1-4).
"And when He was come down from the mountain, great multitudes
followed Him. And behold, there came to Him a leper." What will He do
with him? Should He say to him, "Poor man, you are too late--the
sermon is done"? or should He give him some of the best bits over
again? No, there is not a sentence in the whole of it that would be
any answer to that cry, "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me
clean." What does He do, then? "Jesus put forth His hand, and touched
him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed."
Is it, then, a great stumbling-block in your way, O nineteenth-century
critic, that you are expected to believe that the Lord Jesus actually
did heal this leper? Would it take the stumbling-block away to have it
altered? Suppose we try it, amended to suit the "anti-supernaturalism"
of the age. "And behold, there came a leper to Him, saying, Lord, if
Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put out His hand, and
motioned him away, saying, Poor man, you are quite mistaken, I cannot
help you. I came to teach wise people, not to help poor wretches like
you. There are great laws of health and disease; I advise you to find
them out, and obey them: consult your doctor, and do the best you can.
Farewell." Oh, what nonsense many wise people talk about the
difficulty of believing in Divine power to heal! The fact is, that if
Christ had not proved Himself a healer, men could not have believed in
Him at all.
There could have been no better introduction to the saving work of the
Christ of God. Leprosy was of all diseases the most striking symbol of
sin. This is so familiar a thought that it need not be set forth in
detail. One point, however, must be mentioned, as it opens up a vein
of tender beauty in the exquisite simplicity of the story--the
rigorous separation of the leprous from the healthy, enforced by the
ceremonial law, which made it defilement to touch a leper. Yet "Jesus
stretched forth His hand, and _touched_ him." "He was holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners;" therefore He could mingle with
them, contracting no stain Himself, but diffusing health around Him.
He could take no defilement from the leper's touch; the current was
all the other way: "virtue" went out of Him, and flowed in healing
streams through the poor leper's veins. O lovely symbol of the
Saviour's relation to us sinners! He has in His holy Incarnation
touched our leprous humanity; and remaining stainless Himself, has set
flowing a fountain of healing for all who will open to Him hearts of
faith and let Him touch them with His pure heart of love. Those were
most wonderful words spoken on the mount: they touch the conscience to
the quick and fire the soul with heavenly aspiration; but this touch
of the leper goes to our hearts, for it proves to us that, though the
time is coming when He shall sit as Judge and say to all the sinful,
"Depart from Me," as yet He is the loving Saviour, saying, "Come unto
Me, ye weary," and touching the leprous into health.
That our Saviour was totally averse to anything at all sensational,
and determined rather to repress than encourage the mere thirst for
marvels, is evident from the directions given to the leper to say
nothing about what had happened to him, but to take the appointed
method of giving thanks to God for his recovery, at the same time
registering the fact, so that while his cure should not be used to
gather a crowd, it might be on record with the proper authorities as a
witness to the truth of which it was a sign.