Our last chapter was on the Transfiguration. The next will be on The
Last Supper. Between these two events in our Saviour's life, how many
interesting incidents took place! How many important sayings that
fell from his gracious lips during this period are written for our
instruction by the four evangelists! There is, for instance, the
beautiful lesson about what it is on which the value of our gifts
depend. He taught this lesson when he saw the rich casting their
gifts into the treasury. Among them came "a certain poor widow,
casting in two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that
this poor widow hath cast in more than they all;--for she of her
penury hath cast in all the living she had," Luke xxi: 1-4. But, from
among all these, we have only room for one chapter. A dozen, or
twenty chapters would be needed on this part of the life of Christ.
Where there are so many that might be taken, it has been very
difficult to decide which is the best. In deciding this matter, I do
not think we could do better than join the company of the three
favored disciples, Peter, John, and James, and go, in thought with
them, as they followed their Master from his last visit to the temple
in Jerusalem, up to the top of the Mount of Olives. There Jesus took
his seat, and his disciples sat around him, anxious to ask him some
questions about what he had said to them in the temple. We read in
St. Mark xiii: 1-2, that as he was going out of the temple the
disciples called his attention to the beauty of that sacred building
and the great size and splendor of some of the stones that were in
it. Then Jesus pointed to that great building, and told them that the
time was coming when it would be destroyed, and "there should not be
left one stone upon another that should not be thrown down." This
filled the minds of the disciples with surprise and wonder. They
supposed that their temple would last as long as the world stood.
They thought that it was the end of the world of which Jesus was
speaking; and they were very anxious that he should tell them
something more about it. And so, as soon as they were seated around
him, on the Mount of Olives, they said, "Tell us, when shall these
things be? and what shall be the sign, when all these things shall be
fulfilled?" St. Mark xii: 4.
And now, we may imagine ourselves sitting with Jesus and his
disciples on the Mount of Olives. As we look down we see the city of
Jerusalem spread out beneath our feet. We see its walls, and its
palaces. And there, just before us, outshining everything in its
beauty, is that sacred temple, that was "forty and six years in
building." Its white marble walls, its golden spires, and pinnacles,
are sparkling in the beams of the sun, as they shine upon them. No
wonder the Jews were so proud of it! It was a glorious building.
But now Jesus is beginning to speak. Let us listen to what he says.
The lessons that he taught on the Mount of Olives run all through the
twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth chapters of St. Matthew. In the first
of these chapters, Jesus gave them a sign, by which those who learn
to understand what he here says, might know when his second coming is
to take place. These are some of the lessons from Olivet. I should
like, very much, to stop and talk about them. But this cannot be
now. We pass over to the twenty-fifth chapter of St. Matthew. In this
chapter we have three of our Saviour's parables. These are very
solemn and instructive. They all refer to the judgment that must take
place when Jesus shall come into our world again. The second of these
parables is the one we are now to consider. It is called--"The
Parable of the Talents." We find it in St. Matt, xxv: 14-30. And _the
lessons from Olivet_, which we are now to try and learn, are all
drawn from the words of our Saviour, contained in the verses just
mentioned.
This, then, is our present subject--_The Lessons from Olivet_. And
there _four_ lessons, in this part of our Saviour's discourse, of
which we are now to speak. _The first is--the lesson about the
Master. The second--the lesson about the servants. The third is--the
lesson about the talents; and the fourth, the lesson about the
rewards_.
_The lesson about_--THE MASTER--_is the first thing of which we are
to speak_.
In the 14th verse of this 25th chapter of St. Matthew, Jesus speaks
of himself as--"a man travelling into a far country,"--and of his
people as--"his own servants." In the 19th verse he speaks of himself
as "the lord of those servants, coming back, after a long time, to
reckon with them."
In St. Luke xix: 11-27 we have another of our Saviour's parables,
very similar to the one now before us. There, he speaks of himself as
"a _nobleman_ who went into a far country to receive for himself a
kingdom, and to return." This language was borrowed from a custom
that prevailed in those days. The headquarters of the government of
the world then was in the city of Rome. The kings and rulers of
different countries received their appointments to the offices they
held from the Roman Emperor. Archelaus, the son of Herod, succeeded
his father as king of Judea. But, it was necessary for him to go to
Rome and get permission from the emperor to hold and exercise that
office. He had done this, not very long before our Saviour applied to
himself the words we are now considering. This was a fact well known.
And this is the illustration which Jesus here uses in reference to
himself. He is the Head--the Prince--the Lord--the Master of all
things in his church. He spoke of himself to his disciples as their
"Lord and Master," St. John xiii: 14. He tells us that he has gone to
heaven, as Archelaus went to Rome, "to receive for himself a kingdom
and to return." He said he would be absent "a long time," verse 19.
And this is true. He has been absent more than eighteen hundred
years. He said he would "return," or come again. And so he will. It
is just as certain that he will come again as it is that he went
away. And he will come, not in figure, or in spirit, but in person,
as he went. Remember what the angels said about this to his
disciples, at the time of his departure. "Ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken from
you into heaven, shall _so come, in like manner_ as ye have seen him
go into heaven," Acts i: 11. He said he would return, and so he will.
But, in the meantime, he would have us remember that he is still our
Lord and Master. No master ever had such a right to be Lord and Ruler
as he has. God the Father has appointed him to be "Head over all
things to his church," Ephes. i: 22. He is our Master, because he
_made_ us. This is what no other ever did for his servants. He is our
Master because he _preserves_ us. We cannot keep ourselves for a
single moment, but he keeps us all the time,--by night, and by day.
And he is our Master because, when we had sold ourselves into sin,
and were appointed unto death, _he redeemed us_. He bought us with
the price of his own precious blood. He made our hands to work for
him; and our feet to walk in his ways. He made our hearts to love
him;--our minds to think about him; our eyes to see the beauty of his
wondrous works, our ears to listen to his gracious words, and our
lips and tongues to be employed in speaking and singing his praises.
We cannot be our own masters. "I am my own master!"--said a young
man, proudly, to a friend who was trying to persuade him from doing a
wrong thing; "I am my own master!"
"That's impossible," said his friend. "You can not be master of
yourself, unless you are master of everything within, and everything
around you. Look within. There is your conscience to keep clear, and
your heart to make pure, your temper to govern, your will to control,
and your judgment to instruct. And then look without. There are
storms, and seasons; accidents, and dangers; a world full of evil men
and evil spirits. What can you do with these? And yet, if you don't
master them, they'll master you."
"That's so," said the young man.
"Now, I don't undertake any such thing," said his friend. "I am sure
I should fail, if I did. Saul, the first king of Israel, wanted to be
his own master, and failed. So did Herod. So did Judas. No man can be
his own master. 'One is your Master, even Christ,' says the apostle.
I work under his direction. He is my regulator, and when he is Master
all goes right. Think of these words,--'_He is your Master even
Christ_.' If we put ourselves under his leadership we shall surely
win at last."
And as we cannot be our own master, if we refuse to take Christ as
our Ruler, there is nothing left for us but to have Satan as our
master. These are the only two masters we can have. We must make our
choice between them. If Jesus is not our Master, Satan must be. If
Jesus is our Master here, he will share his glory with us hereafter.
If we serve Satan here, we must share his punishment hereafter. This
is one of the solemn lessons that Jesus taught on Olivet. He is
speaking of the day of judgment. He represents himself as on the
judgment-seat. Two great companies are before him. On his right hand
are those who took him for their Master. To them he says--"Come, ye
blessed children of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you,
from the foundation of the world," St. Matt, xxv: 34.
On his left are those who took Satan for their master. The awful
words he speaks to them are:--"Depart from, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." St. Matt.
xxv: 41.
This is our first lesson from Olivet--the lesson about the Master.
_The second lesson from Olivet is the lesson about_--THE SERVANTS.
We are told that before this nobleman went away to the far country,
he called to him "his own servants." The nobleman here spoken of
means Jesus, our blessed Master. And now the question is--who are
meant by "his own servants?" He has three kinds of servants. The
first kind is made up of those who serve him _ignorantly_. This takes
in all those things that have no knowledge or understanding. There,
for instance are the sun,--the moon,--the stars,--the mountains,--the
hills,--the plains,--the valleys,--the rivers,--the seas,--the wind
that blows,--the rains that descend,--and the dews that distil; these
all serve God, without knowing it. He made them to serve him, and
they do it; but they do it ignorantly. "His kingdom _ruleth over
all_," and it makes all these things his servants. They do exactly
what they were made for, but they do it ignorantly.
And there is another class of our Lord's creatures who serve him
_unwillingly_. This is a very large class. It takes in all the wicked
men, and the wicked spirits who are to be found anywhere. They do not
wish to serve God, and yet, in spite of themselves, they are obliged
to do it. We see this illustrated, when we think of the way in which
the crucifixion of our blessed Saviour was brought about. Satan
stirred up the Jews to take Jesus and put him to death. God allowed
them to do it. They did it of their own choice--as freely, and as
voluntarily, as they ever did anything in their lives. They did it
because they hated him, and wished to get him out of their way. So
they nailed him to the cross in their malice and their rage. This was
the very thing God had determined should be done, that he might save
and bless the world. He allowed Satan, and the Jews, to do just what
their wicked hearts prompted them to do; and then he overruled it for
good. And, in this way, as David says, he "makes the wrath of man to
praise him, and the remainder of it he restrains." And thus we see
how evil men, and evil spirits, are God's servants _unwillingly_.
But then, there is another class of persons who serve God
_willingly_. This takes in all those who know and love him. He speaks
of them, in this parable as "_his own_ servants." When they find out
what he has done for them, the thought of it fills their hearts with
love; and then they desire to serve him, and do all he tells them to
do, in order to show their love to him. And this is what Jesus means
when he says--"Take my yoke upon you; for my yoke is easy, and my
burden is light," When we really love a person, anything that we can
do for that person is easy and pleasant to us. And so it is the great
love for Jesus, that his people have, which makes his yoke easy, and
his burden light to them.
"How to Become a Willing Servant to Jesus." A little boy came to his
grandmother one day, and asked her how he could become a Christian.
She answered very simply, "Ask Jesus to give you a new heart, _and
believe he does it when you ask him_."
"Is that all?" said the little fellow joyfully; "oh! that is easy
enough." So he went to his room, and kneeling beside his bed, asked
Jesus to give him a new heart. He believed that the dear Saviour,
who loves little children, did hear and answer his prayer. And he
left his room with a happy heart, for he felt sure that he was now
one of Christ's own loving children, and willing servants. And this
is the way in which we must take the yoke of Jesus upon us, and
become his willing servants. And then in everything that we do we can
be serving him. As St. Paul says--"whether we eat or drink, or
whatsoever we do, we can do all to the glory of God."
A good man once said "that if God should send two angels down from
heaven, and should tell one of them to sit on a throne and rule a
kingdom, and the other to sweep the streets of a city, the latter
would feel that he was serving God as acceptably in handling his
broom as his brother angel was in holding his sceptre. And this is
true. We see the same illustrated in the fable of:
"The Stream and the Mill." "I notice," said the stream to the mill,
"that you grind beans as well and as cheerfully as you do the finest
wheat." "Certainly," said the mill; "what am I here for but to grind?
and so long as I work, what does it signify to me what the work is?
My business is to serve my master, and I am not a whit more useful
when I turn out the finest flour than when I turn out the coarsest
meal. My honor is, not in doing fine work, but in doing any thing
that is given me to do in the best way that I can." That is true. And
this is just the way in which Jesus wishes us to serve him when he
says to "_his own_ servants," "Occupy till I come." This means serve
me, in everything, as you would do if you saw me standing by your
side.
"How to Serve God." Willie's mother let him go with his little sister
into the street to play. She told them not to go off the street on
which their house stood. Willie was a little fellow, and lisped very
much in talking; but he was brave, and he was obedient. Presently his
sister asked him to go into another street; but he refused. "Mamma
thaid no," was Willie's answer. "The thaid we muthn't do off thith
threet," said Willie in his lisping way. "Only just a little way
round the corner," said his teasing sister. "Mamma'll never know it."
"But I thall know it my own thelf; and I don't want to know any thuch
a mean thing; and I won't!" And Willie straightened himself, and
stood up like a man. That was brave and beautiful in Willie. And that
is the way in which we should try to serve our heavenly Master.
"How a Boy May Serve God." A gentleman met a little boy wheeling his
baby brother in a child's carriage. "My little man," said the
gentleman, "what are you doing to serve God?" The little fellow
stopped a moment, and then, looking up into the gentleman's face, he
said:--"Why, you see, Sir, I'm trying to make baby happy, so that he
won't worry mamma who is sick." That was a noble answer. In trying to
amuse his baby brother, and to relieve his poor sick mother, that
little boy was serving God as truly and as acceptably as the angel
Gabriel does when he wings his way, on a mission of mercy, to some
far off world.
And this is the lesson about the servants that comes to us from
Olivet.
_The lesson about_--THE TALENTS--_is the third lesson that comes to
us from Olivet_.
This parable tells us that before the Master went away, he "called
his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. Unto one he gave
five talents, to another two, to another one; to every man according
to his several ability." verses 14, 15, In St. Luke's account of the
parable, what the master gave to his servants is spoken of as
_pounds_, and each servant is said to have received one pound. These
talents or pounds both mean the same thing. They denote something
with which we can do good, and make ourselves useful. And it is
plain, from both these parables, that the Master gave at least _one_
talent, or one pound, to each of his servants. None of them were left
without some portion of their Master's goods. And the lesson from
Olivet which comes to us here is that every one of us has a talent,
or a pound, that our Master Jesus, has given us, and which he expects
us to use for him. And the most important thing for us is to find out
what our talents are, and how we can best use them, so as to be ready
to give a good account of them when our Master comes to reckon with
us.