The sons of Joseph were far from
being in sympathy with Jesus in His work. The reports that reached them in
regard to His life and labors filled them with astonishment and dismay. They
heard that He devoted entire nights to prayer, that through the day He was
thronged by great companies of people, and did not give Himself time so much as
to eat. His friends felt that He was wearing Himself out by His incessant
labor; they were unable to account for His attitude toward the Pharisees, and
there were some who feared that His reason was becoming unsettled.
His brothers heard of this, and also
of the charge brought by the Pharisees that He cast out devils through the
power of Satan. They felt keenly the reproach that came upon them through their
relation to Jesus. They knew what a tumult His words and works created, and
were not only alarmed at His bold statements, but indignant at His denunciation
of the scribes and Pharisees. They decided that He must be persuaded or
constrained to cease this manner of labor, and they induced Mary to unite with
them, thinking that through His love for her they might prevail upon Him to be
more prudent.
It was just before this that Jesus
had a second time performed the miracle of healing a man possessed, blind and
dumb, and the Pharisees had reiterated the charge, "He casteth out devils
through the prince of the devils." Matt. 9:34. Christ told them plainly
that in attributing the
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work of the Holy Spirit to Satan,
they were cutting themselves off from the fountain of blessing. Those who had
spoken against Jesus Himself, not discerning His divine character, might
receive forgiveness; for through the Holy Spirit they might be brought to see
their error and repent. Whatever the sin, if the soul repents and believes, the
guilt is washed away in the blood of Christ; but he who rejects the work of the
Holy Spirit is placing himself where repentance and faith cannot come to him.
It is by the Spirit that God works upon the heart; when men willfully reject
the Spirit, and declare It to be from Satan, they cut off the channel by which
God can communicate with them. When the Spirit is finally rejected, there is no
more that God can do for the soul.
The Pharisees to whom Jesus spoke
this warning did not themselves believe the charge they brought against Him.
There was not one of those dignitaries but had felt drawn toward the Saviour.
They had heard the Spirit's voice in their own hearts declaring Him to be the
Anointed of Israel, and urging them to confess themselves His disciples. In the
light of His presence they had realized their unholiness, and had longed for a
righteousness which they could not create. But after their rejection of Him it
would be too humiliating to receive Him as the Messiah. Having set their feet
in the path of unbelief, they were too proud to confess their error. And in
order to avoid acknowledging the truth, they tried with desperate violence to
dispute the Saviour's teaching. The evidence of His power and mercy exasperated
them. They could not prevent the Saviour from working miracles, they could not
silence His teaching; but they did everything in their power to misrepresent
Him and to falsify His words. Still the convicting Spirit of God followed them,
and they had to build up many barriers in order to withstand its power. The
mightiest agency that can be brought to bear upon the human heart was striving
with them, but they would not yield.
It is not God that blinds the eyes
of men or hardens their hearts. He sends them light to correct their errors,
and to lead them in safe paths; it is by the rejection of this light that the
eyes are blinded and the heart hardened. Often the process is gradual, and
almost imperceptible. Light comes to the soul through God's word, through His
servants, or by the direct agency of His Spirit; but when one ray of light is
disregarded, there is a partial benumbing of the spiritual perceptions, and the
second revealing of light is less clearly discerned. So the darkness increases,
until it is night in the soul. Thus it had been with
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these Jewish leaders. They were
convinced that a divine power attended Christ, but in order to resist the
truth, they attributed the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan. In doing this they
deliberately chose deception; they yielded themselves to Satan, and henceforth
they were controlled by his power.
Closely connected with Christ's
warning in regard to the sin against the Holy Spirit is a warning against idle
and evil words. The words are an indication of that which is in the heart.
"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." But the words
are more than an indication of character; they have power to react on the
character. Men are influenced by their own words. Often under a momentary
impulse, prompted by Satan, they give utterance to jealousy or evil surmising,
expressing that which they do not really believe; but the expression reacts on
the thoughts. They are deceived by their words, and come to believe that true
which was spoken at Satan's instigation. Having once expressed an opinion or
decision, they are often too proud to retract it, and try to prove themselves
in the right, until they come to believe that they are. It is dangerous to
utter a word of doubt, dangerous to question and criticize divine light. The
habit of careless and irreverent criticism reacts upon the character, in
fostering irreverence and unbelief. Many a man indulging this habit has gone on
unconscious of danger, until he was ready to criticize and reject the work of
the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, "Every idle word that men shall speak, they
shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt
be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."
Then He added a warning to those who
had been impressed by His words, who had heard Him gladly, but who had not
surrendered themselves for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is not only by
resistance but by neglect that the soul is destroyed. "When the unclean
spirit is gone out of a man," said Jesus, "he walketh through dry
places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my
house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept,
and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more
wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there."
There were many in Christ's day, as
there are today, over whom the control of Satan for the time seemed broken;
through the grace of God they were set free from the evil spirits that had held
dominion over
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the soul. They rejoiced in the love
of God; but, like the stony-ground hearers of the parable, they did not abide
in His love. They did not surrender themselves to God daily, that Christ might
dwell in the heart; and when the evil spirit returned, with "seven other
spirits more wicked than himself," they were wholly dominated by the power
of evil.
When the soul surrenders itself to
Christ, a new power takes possession of the new heart. A change is wrought
which man can never accomplish for himself. It is a supernatural work, bringing
a supernatural element into human nature. The soul that is yielded to Christ
becomes His own fortress, which He holds in a revolted world, and He intends
that no authority shall be known in it but His own. A soul thus kept in
possession by the heavenly agencies is impregnable to the assaults of Satan.
But unless we do yield ourselves to the control of Christ, we shall be
dominated by the wicked one. We must inevitably be under the control of the one
or the other of the two great powers that are contending for the supremacy of
the world. It is not necessary for us deliberately to choose the service of the
kingdom of darkness in order to come under its dominion. We have only to
neglect to ally ourselves with the kingdom of light. If we do not co-operate
with the heavenly agencies, Satan will take possession of the heart, and will
make it his abiding place. The only defense against evil is the indwelling of
Christ in the heart through faith in His righteousness. Unless we become
vitally connected with God, we can never resist the unhallowed effects of
self-love, self-indulgence, and temptation to sin. We may leave off many bad
habits, for the time we may part company with Satan; but without a vital
connection with God, through the surrender of ourselves to Him moment by
moment, we shall be overcome. Without a personal acquaintance with Christ, and
a continual communion, we are at the mercy of the enemy, and shall do his
bidding in the end.
"The last state of that man is
worse than the first. Even so," said Jesus, "shall it be also unto
this wicked generation." There are none so hardened as those who have
slighted the invitation of mercy, and done despite to the Spirit of grace. The
most common manifestation of the sin against the Holy Spirit is in persistently
slighting Heaven's invitation to repent. Every step in the rejection of Christ
is a step toward the rejection of salvation, and toward the sin against the
Holy Spirit.
In rejecting Christ the Jewish
people committed the unpardonable sin; and by refusing the invitation of mercy,
we may commit the same
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error. We offer insult to the Prince
of life, and put Him to shame before the synagogue of Satan and before the
heavenly universe when we refuse to listen to His delegated messengers, and
instead listen to the agents of Satan, who would draw the soul away from
Christ. So long as one does this, he can find no hope or pardon, and he will
finally lose all desire to be reconciled to God.
While Jesus was still teaching the
people, His disciples brought the message that His mother and His brothers were
without, and desired to see Him. He knew what was in their hearts, and "He
answered and said unto him that told Him, Who is My mother? and who are My
brethren? And He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples, and said,
Behold My mother and My brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of My Father
which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother."
All who would receive Christ by
faith were united to Him by a tie closer than that of human kinship. They would
become one with Him, as He was one with the Father. As a believer and doer of
His words, His mother was more nearly and savingly related to Him than through
her natural relationship. His brothers would receive no benefit from their
connection with Him unless they accepted Him as their personal Saviour.
What a support Christ would have
found in His earthly relatives if they had believed in Him as one from heaven,
and had co-operated with Him in doing the work of God! Their unbelief cast a
shadow over the earthly life of Jesus. It was a part of the bitterness of that
cup of woe which He drained for us.
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The enmity kindled in the human
heart against the gospel was keenly felt by the Son of God, and it was most
painful to Him in His home; for His own heart was full of kindness and love,
and He appreciated tender regard in the family relation. His brothers desired
that He should concede to their ideas, when such a course would have been
utterly out of harmony with His divine mission. They looked upon Him as in need
of their counsel. They judged Him from their human point of view, and thought
that if He would speak only such things as would be acceptable to the scribes
and Pharisees, He would avoid the disagreeable controversy that His words
aroused. They thought that He was beside Himself in claiming divine authority,
and in placing Himself before the rabbis as a reprover of their sins. They knew
that the Pharisees were seeking occasion to accuse Him, and they felt that He
had given them sufficient occasion.
With their short measuring line they
could not fathom the mission which He came to fulfill, and therefore could not
sympathize with Him in His trials. Their coarse, unappreciative words showed
that they had no true perception of His character, and did not discern that the
divine blended with the human. They often saw Him full of grief; but instead of
comforting Him, their spirit and words only wounded His heart. His sensitive
nature was tortured, His motives were misunderstood, His work was
uncomprehended.
His brothers often brought forward
the philosophy of the Pharisees, which was threadbare and hoary with age, and
presumed to think that they could teach Him who understood all truth, and
comprehended all mysteries. They freely condemned that which they could not
understand. Their reproaches probed Him to the quick, and His soul was wearied
and distressed. They avowed faith in God, and thought they were vindicating
God, when God was with them in the flesh, and they knew Him not.
These things made His path a thorny
one to travel. So pained was Christ by the misapprehension in His own home that
it was a relief to Him to go where it did not exist. There was one home that He
loved to visit,--the home of Lazarus, and Mary, and Martha; for in the
atmosphere of faith and love His spirit had rest. Yet there were none on earth
who could comprehend His divine mission, or know the burden which He bore in
behalf of humanity. Often He could find relief only in being alone, and
communing with His heavenly Father.
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Those who are called to suffer for
Christ's sake, who have to endure misapprehension and distrust, even in their
own home, may find comfort in the thought that Jesus has endured the same. He
is moved with compassion for them. He bids them find companionship in Him, and
relief where He found it, in communion with the Father.
Those who accept Christ as their
personal Saviour are not left as orphans, to bear the trials of life alone. He
receives them as members of the heavenly family; He bids them call His Father
their Father. They are His "little ones," dear to the heart of God,
bound to Him by the most tender and abiding ties. He has toward them an
exceeding tenderness, as far surpassing what our father or mother has felt
toward us in our helplessness as the divine is above the human.
Of Christ's relation to His people,
there is a beautiful illustration in the laws given to Israel. When through
poverty a Hebrew had been forced to part with his patrimony, and to sell
himself as a bondservant, the duty of redeeming him and his inheritance fell to
the one who was nearest of kin. See Lev. 25:25, 47-49; Ruth 2:20. So the work
of redeeming us and our inheritance, lost through sin, fell upon Him who is
"near of kin" unto us. It was to redeem us that He became our
kinsman. Closer than father, mother, brother, friend, or lover is the Lord our
Saviour. "Fear not," He says, "for I have redeemed thee, I have
called thee by thy name; thou art Mine." "Since thou wast precious in
My sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I
give men for thee, and people for thy life." Isa. 43:1, 4.
Christ loves the heavenly beings
that surround His throne; but what shall account for the great love wherewith
He has loved us? We cannot understand it, but we can know it true in our own
experience. And if we do hold the relation of kinship to Him, with what
tenderness should we regard those who are brethren and sisters of our Lord!
Should we not be quick to recognize the claims of our divine relationship?
Adopted into the family of God, should we not honor our Father and our kindred?
