In chapter 8 the Lord explains the import and the effect of His ministry;
and especially, I doubt not, its effect among the Jews.
However great the unbelief, Jesus carries on His work to the end, and the
fruits of His work appear. He goes to preach the good news of the kingdom.
His disciples (the fruit, and the witnesses by grace, in their measure, in
the same manner as Himself, of His mighty word) accompany Him; and other
fruits of this same word, witnesses also by their own deliverance from the
power of the enemy, and by the affection and devotedness flowing from
thence by grace-a grace which acted also in them, according to the love and
devotedness that attach to Jesus. Here women have a good place.
[see note #24] The
work was strengthened and consolidated, and characterises itself by its
effects.
The Lord explains its true nature. He did not take possession of the
kingdom, He did not seek for fruit; He sowed the testimony of God in order
to produce fruit. This, in a striking way, is the altogether new thing. The
word was its seed. Moreover it was the disciples only-who had followed and
attached themselves to His Person, by grace and by virtue of the
manifestation of the power and grace of God in His Person-to whom it was
given to understand the mysteries, the thoughts of God, revealed inChrist,
of this kingdom which was not being openly established by power. Here the
remnant is very clearly distinguished from the nation. To "others" it was
in parables, that they might not understand. For that the Lord Himself must
be received morally. Here this parable is not accompanied by others. Alone
it marks out the position. The warning, which we considered in Mark, is
added. Finally the light of God was not manifested in order to be hidden.
Moreover everything should be made manifest. Therefore they must take heed
how they heard, for, if they possessed that which they heard, they should
receive more: otherwise even that should be taken from them.
The Lord puts a seal upon this testimony, namely, that the thing in
question was the word, which drew to Him and to God those who were to enjoy
the blessing; and that the word was the basis of all relationship with
Himself, declaring, when they spoke to Him of His mother and brethren, by
whom He was related to Israel after the flesh, that He acknowledged as such
none others but those who heard and obeyed the word of God.
Besides the evident power manifested in His miracles the accounts that
follow-to the end of chapter 8-present different aspects of the work of
Christ, and of His reception, and of its consequences.
First the Lord-although, apparently, He takes no notice-is associated with
His disciples in the difficulties and storms that surround them, because
they have embarked in His service. We have seen that He gathered the
disciples around Himself: they are devoted to His service. As far as man's
power to avert it went, they were in imminent danger. The waves are ready
to swallow them up. Jesus, in their eyes, cares nothing about it; but God
has permitted this exercise of faith. They are there on account of Christ,
and with Him. Christ is with them; and the power of Christ, for whose sake
they are in the storm, is there to protect them. They are together with Him
in the same vessel. If as to themselves they might perish, they are
associated in the counsels of God with Jesus, and His presence is their
safeguard. He permits the storm, but He is Himself in the vessel. When He
shall awake and manifest Himself, all will be calm.
In the healing of the demoniac, in the country of the Gadarenes, we have a
living picture of what was passing.
As to Israel, the remnant-however great the enemy's power-is delivered. The
world beseeches Jesus to depart, desiring their own ease, which is more
disturbed by the presence and power of God than by a legion of devils. He
goes away. The man who was healed-the remnant-would fain be with Him; but
the Lord sends him back (into the world that He quitted Himself) to be a
witness of the grace and power of which he had been the subject.
The herd of swine, I doubt not, set before us the career of Israel towards
their destruction, after the rejection of the Lord. The world accustoms
itself to the power of Satan-painful as it may be to see it in certain
cases-never to the power of God.
The next two histories present the effect of faith, and the real need with
which the grace that meets it has to do. The faith of the remnant seeks
Jesus to preserve the life of that which is ready to perish. The Lord
answers it, and comes Himself to answer it. On the way (it is there He was,
and, as to final deliverance, He is still there), in the midst of the crowd
that surrounded Him, faith touches Him. The poor woman had a disease which
no means at marl's disposal could heal. But power is found in the Man,
Christ, and comes forth from Him for the healing of man, wherever faith
exists, while waiting for the final accomplishment of His mission on earth.
She is healed, and confesses before Christ her condition and all that had
happened to her: and thus, by means of the effect of faith, testimony is
rendered to Christ. The remnant is manifested, faith distinguishes them
from the multitude; their condition being the fruit of divine power in
Christ.
This principle applies to the healing of every believer, and, consequently,
to that of the Gentiles, as the apostle argues. Healing power is in the
Person of Christ; faith-by grace and by the attraction of Christ-profits by
it. It does not depend on the relationship of the Jew, although, as to his
position, he was the first to profit by it. It is a question of what there
is in the Person of Christ, and of faith in the individual. If there is
faith in the individual, this power acts; he goes away in peace, healed by
the power of God Himself.
But, in fact, if we consider in full the condition of man, it was not
sickness merely which was in question, but death. Christ, before the full
manifestation of the state of man, met it, so to speak, on the way; but, as
in the case of Lazarus, the manifestation was allowed; and to faith this
manifestation took place in the death of Jesus. Thus, here, it is permitted
that the daughter of Jairus should die before the arrival of Christ; but
grace has come to raise from the dead, with the divine power that alone can
accomplish it; and Jesus, in comforting the poor father, bids him not to
fear, but only to believe, and his daughter should be made whole. It is
faith in His Person, in the divine power in Him, in the grace that comes to
exercise it, which obtains joy and deliverance. But Jesus does not seek the
multitude here; the manifestation of this power is only for the consolation
of those who feel their need of it, and for the faith of those who are
really attached to Him. The multitude know, indeed, that the maiden is
dead; they bewail her, and do not understand the power of God that can
raise her up. Jesus gives back to her parents the child whose life He had
restored. Thus will it be with the Jews at the end, in the midst of the
unbelief of the many. Meantime by faith we anticipate this joy, convinced
that it is our state by grace; we live: only that for us it is in
connection with Christ in heaven, the firstfruits of a new creation.
With respect to His ministry, Jesus will have this hidden. He must be
received according to the testimony which He bore to the conscience and to
the heart. On the way this testimony was not entirely finished. We shall
see His last efforts with the unbelieving heart of man in the succeeding
chapters.
