_THE LORD'S BODY_
"_I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do._"
--JOHN xvii. 1-11.
This quiet confession is in itself a token of our Lord's divinity. The
serenity in which He makes His claims is as stupendous as the claims
themselves. "Finished," perfected in the utmost refinement, to the last,
remotest detail! Nothing scamped, nothing overlooked, nothing forgotten!
Everything which concerns thy redemption and my redemption has been
accomplished. "It is finished!"
"_And now ... I come to Thee._" The visible Presence is withdrawn. There
is no longer in our midst a Jesus whose body we can bruise and crucify.
"_But these are in the world._" Yes, and His disciples are now His body.
He becomes reincarnated in them. If they refuse Him a body, He has none!
He looks through their eyes, listens through their ears, speaks through
their lips, ministers through their hands, goes on sacred pilgrimages with
their feet! "Know ye not that ye are the body?"
Does my discipleship offer my Lord a limb? Can He communicate with the
world through me? Does my discipleship multiply His powers of expression?
Has He more eyes, more ears, more hands because I am a member of His
Church? Or----?