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THE
NEW LIFE by
John Marshall
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Chapter
20 • THE
FORGOTTEN DOCTRINE
At
an appropriate stage in His revelation of signs and law to
Moses, the Lord revealed His true glory, and at an appropriate
stage at the beginning of his ministry the Son, Jesus, made
clear its nature and purpose. You will remember the occasion
when he did this. He returned to Nazareth where he had been
brought up, and as had been his custom before he left his
"home-town" he stood up to read in the synagogue
on the sabbath. Whether he looked for the special portion
of Isaiah that he wished to read or whether his eye fell immediately
on this part of the scroll we do not know, but what he read
was: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed
me to preach good tidings to the poor: He hath sent me to
proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."
The heavens must ring with the praises of a God and Father
whose very nature is love and selfless service to the creatures
of His creation. No wonder the name of Jesus is above every
name in heaven and earth, when it is realized that the whole
motive and purpose of his life was "to minister, and
to give his life a ransom for many". He asked nothing
of anyone and strove only to reveal his Father's goodness
to all. That is why he could truly say "He that hath
seen me hath seen the Father".
Grace and Truth Exemplified
Out of the many incidents in the ministry of Jesus that illustrate
this eternal principle of grace and truth we can stay with
but a few. He toured Galilee "preaching the gospel of
the kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and all manner
of disease among the people". As his Father's Son, he
could not have done otherwise, for had not the nation of Israel
been born of the grace and truth of the Father? Thus it
was his "meat", likewise, to do the will of his
Father, and "to finish his work".
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References
Luke 4v18-19 RV, Matt 20v28,
Matt 4v23, John 4v34
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Chapter
20 • THE
FORGOTTEN DOCTRINE
Sorrow
came to Jesus, as to others; and he would feel it more keenly than
anyone for he knew the power of sin and of death. But he never allowed
it to hinder his mission of mercy. He might weep at his loss, but
soon turned again to the work in hand. And so it was in the tragic
death of John the Baptist, at the hands of king Herod. It was the
tune, too, when he received the report of the apostles about all
the things that they had done and taught in obedience to the mission
on which he had sent them. They were probably happy but exhausted.
"For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure
so much as to eat."
Retiring, by ship, to a desert place, Jesus and the disciples obviously
hoped that they would enjoy rest and privacy, but such was the power
of Jesus that the people could not bear to lose sight of him and
those who saw him leave gathered more people from neighbouring towns
and they all ran round the lake seeking him.
In spite of his fatigue Jesus could not resist the hunger of the
multitude, and his Father's nature shines through his response to
their coming: "And Jesus, when he came out saw much people,
and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as
sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things."
But having served the needs of their inner man, he soon satisfied
also their physical desire for food. Thus, again, was grace and
truth fed to the hungry.
This twin, and eternal principle, obviously implies a selflessness
of will that strengthens the weakest of personalities for service
to others, and bends the strongest will to the deepest needs of
men. And could there have been a better illustration of this than
the incident of the washing of the disciples' feet?
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References
Mark 6v31, Mark 6v34
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