The region into which Christ admitted this woman. It is remarkable
that in the present case, and in that other to which I have already
referred, the phraseology employed is not the ordinary one of that
familiar Old Testament leave-taking salutation, which was the
'goodbye' of the Hebrews, 'Go in peace.' But we read occasionally in
the Old Testament a slight but eloquent variation. It is not 'Go in
peace,' as our Authorised Version has it, but 'Go into peace,' and
that is a great deal more than the other. 'Go in peace' refers to
the momentary emotion; 'Go into peace' seems, as it were, to open
the door of a great palace, to let down the barrier on the borders
of a land, and to send the person away upon a journey through all
the extent of that blessed country. Jesus Christ takes up this as He
does a great many very ordinary conventional forms, and puts a
meaning into it. Eli had said to Hannah, 'Go into peace.' Nathan had
said to David, 'Go into peace.' But Eli and Nathan could only wish
that it might be so; their wish had no power to realise itself.
Christ takes the water of the conventional salutation and turns it
into the wine of a real gift. When He says, 'Go into peace,' He puts
the person into the peace which He wishes them, and His word is like
a living creature, and fulfils itself.
So He says to each of us: 'If you have been saved by faith, I open
the door of this great palace. I admit you across the boundaries of
this great country. I give you all possible forms of peace for
yours.' Peace with God--that is the foundation of all--then peace
with ourselves, so that our inmost nature need no longer be torn in
pieces by contending emotions, 'I dare not' waiting upon 'I would,'
and 'I ought' and 'I will' being in continual and internecine
conflict; but heart and will, and calmed conscience, and satisfied
desires, and pure affections, and lofty emotions being all drawn
together into one great wave by the attraction of His love, as the
moon draws the heaped waters of the ocean round the world. So our
souls at rest in God may be at peace within themselves, and that is
the only way by which the discords of the heart can be tuned to one
key, into harmony and concord; and the only way by which wars and
tumults within the soul turn into tranquil energy, and into peace
which is not stagnation, but rather a mightier force than was ever
developed when the soul was cleft by discordant desires.
In like manner, the man who is at peace with God, and consequently
with himself, is in relations of harmony with all things and with
all events. 'All things are yours if ye are Christ's.' 'The stars in
their courses fought against Sisera,' because Sisera was fighting
against God; and all creatures, and all events, are at enmity with
the man who is in antagonism and enmity to Him who is Lord of them
all. But if we have peace with God, and peace with ourselves, then,
as Job says, 'Thou shalt make a league with the beasts of the field,
and the stones of the field shall be at peace with thee.' 'Thy faith
hath saved thee; go into peace.'
Remember that this commandment, which is likewise a promise and a
bestowal, bids us progress in the peace into which Christ admits us.
We should be growingly unperturbed and calm, and 'there is no joy
but calm,' when all is said and done. We should be more and more
tranquil and at rest; and every day there should come, as it were, a
deeper and more substantial layer of tranquillity enveloping our
hearts, a thicker armour against perturbation and calamity and
tumult.
III. And now there is one last point here that I would suggest,
namely:
The condition on which we shall abide in the Land of Peace.
Our Lord said to both these women: 'Thy faith hath saved thee.' To
the other one it was even more needful to say it than to this poor
penitent prostitute, because that other one had the notion that,
somehow or other, she could steal away the blessing of healing by
contact of her finger with the robe of Jesus. Therefore He was
careful to lift her above that sensuous error, and to show her what
it was in her that had drawn healing 'virtue' from Him. In substance
He says to her: 'Thy faith, not thy forefinger, has joined thee to
Me; My love, not My garment, has healed thee.'
There have been, and still are, many copyists of the woman's mistake who
have ascribed too much healing and saving power to externals--sacraments,
rites, and ceremonies. If their faith is real and their longing earnest,
they get their blessing, but they need to be educated to understand
more clearly what is the human condition of receiving Christ's saving
power, and that robe and finger have little to do with it.
The sequence of these two sayings, the one pointing out the channel
of all spiritual blessing, the other, the bestowment of the great
blessing of perfect peace, suggests that the peace is conditional on
the faith, and opens up to us this solemn truth, that if we would
enjoy continuous peace, we must exercise continuous faith. The two
things will cover precisely the same ground, and where the one stops
the other will stop. Yesterday's faith does not secure to-day's
peace. As long as I hold up the shield of faith, it will quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked, but if I were holding it up
yesterday, and have dropped it to-day, then there is nothing between
me and them, and I shall be wounded and burned before long. No past
religious experience avails for present needs. If you would have
'your peace' to be 'as the waves of the sea,' your trust in Christ
must be continuous and strong. The moment you cease trusting, that
moment you cease being peaceful. Keep behind the breakwater, and you
will ride smoothly, whatever the storm. Venture out beyond it, and
you will be exposed to the dash of the waves and the howling of the
tempest. Your own past tells you where the means of blessing are. It
was your faith that saved you, and it is as you go on believing that
you 'Go into peace'.