John 9:4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night comes, when no man can work. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. This, like so man y of the memorable sayings of our Lord, is an incidental one, arising out of the circumstances of the hour. On a sabbath day in autumn - the last autumn of his earthly life - our Lord paused as he passed through the streets of Jerusalem to look at a blind beggar, known to be blind from his birth. The sight was sad enough, but instead of exciting the pity of Jesus' disciples, it seems only to have awakened their speculative curiosity. Taking it for granted, as was usual in their days, that special suffering must needs be a retribution for special sin, they asked their Master the question, "Who was to blame for this man's blindness?" Was he sent eyeless into the world for some fault of his own, or was he suffering for transgressions of his parents? Our Lord put the unwise question aside. The disciples were far from the mark. There was a wider and deeper philosophy of suffering than they were dreaming of, and for the calamity before them there was more than sufficient reason in this, that the man's blindness was now to be the occasion of God's signal mercy. Christ, therefore, refuses to be drawn into any fruitless and bootless discussions regarding the origin of evil either physical or moral. This was not his mission into the world. He had come amongst us to triumph over evil, not to explain it, and so he says to his disciples, "I must work the works of him," etc. No saying of Christ's brings his true manhood more distinctly before us than these words do. Before he could utter them he must have "emptied himself of his glory, and taken upon him the form of a servant." There were times, indeed, in his ministry when he used language which could only become the Son of God, as when he spoke of the glory which he had with the Father before the world was. But here he speaks with equal plainness as the Son of man, in all things made like unto his brethren. We can never forget that Christ's mission into the world was unparalleled, even as he stands alone in his relation to the Father. Still, it was in our nature that he accomplished this whole work of his. He did not seem to be a man, he was "the Man Christ Jesus." These words, therefore, reveal to us the spirit, the motive, the principle, of the only perfect human life that ever was lived, and it is in this respect that they set him forth as our Example. I. OUR LORD HERE DISTINCTLY ACKNOWLEDGES A WILL HIGHER THAN HIS OWN, and tells us that in laying out his earthly life this will was his guiding star. He had all the sensibilities of a sinless human being. He not only knew by experience the urgencies of hunger and thirst, and longed for rest from exhausting toil, but he loved congenial society like that of the family of Bethany. How must he have recoiled from the contradiction of sinners! How sensitively must he have shrunk from contact with vice and squalor! But he allowed not such natural feelings, pure as they were, to reign supreme among his motives, or interfere with his life-work. "Even Christ pleased not himself." "I came down from heaven," he said, "not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me." Here, surely, there are great, though simple, lessons for us all. In our daily lives we feel the force of a hundred different motives. We are swayed by our own tastes, by the example and opinions of others, by the force of outward circumstances; but do we see rising above all these, and piercing through them, and shedding a light over them, the will of our Father in heaven? We are sent into the world with different gifts and capacities. We find ourselves placed in widely different stations and spheres. But have we laid it to heart that God has a purpose in placing us here, and that this mysterious gift of life is not like a freehold - an independent possession - still less like a plaything which we may do what we like with, but that it is a trust from above, a stewardship under its Giver? Plainly this was Christ's view of life, and to reveal this to us in light and clearness, by example as well as by precept, was one great end for which he came into the world. For he came not only to atone for our sins and to reconcile us to God, but also to show us, as it had never been seen before, the meaning and purpose of life, connecting the whole of it with a perfectly holy and righteous will. Multitudes without number have realized this in their own experience, and. thus the humblest lives have been ennobled, and the busiest lives consecrated by a motive and an influence not of this world. Oh! if we would work without becoming the slaves of our work, if we would enjoy our freedom without being ensnared by it, we can only do so as the servants of God. Have you learned this great life-lesson from Christ? Let no one say that because our Lord's work was necessary for the redemption of the world, therefore ours is of no consequence. On the contrary, it is as important for us to do the will of God in our sphere as it was for Christ to do it in his, and assuredly he will impart his Spirit to all who come to him in faith and take his yoke upon them. And how do these words of Christ, "I must work," speak to us of the sacredness of duty! They show that the idea of obligation was distinctly present to his mind. lie felt that it was right to obey his God and Father who had sent him, and instead of this feeling being irksome or burdensome, it was one source of his spiritual strength. "He put on righteousness as a breastplate." On the one hand his love to God did not make his obedience seem superfluous, and on the other hand t he idea of duty never chilled nor lessened his love. lie showed how love and obedience are like two fair blossoms which spring from the same root. And what is that root? It is the life of God in the soul of man. Here, again, "let the same mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." Seek to cherish and cultivate the spirit of loving obedience. If Christ, by his infinite sacrifice, has reconciled you to God, redeemed you from the curse of the Law, it is that you may serve his Father and yours from the heart. If he has stripped obligation of its terrors, he has strengthened instead of weakening its power. "This is the love of God, that ye keep his commandments." II. The text teaches us that CHRIST FELT THE PRECIOUSNESS OF OPPORTUNITY AND THE VALUE OF TIME. He calls his earthly life day, and its termination he calls the coming might, when no man can work. This language of his cannot be mistaken. He foresaw, indeed, with perfect clearness the glory which awaited him, and the unending work which he was to accomplish by his Spirit in the ages to come; but his life-work here below was the necessary and divinely appointed preparation for it all. The seedtime was essential to the harvest, and it was a limited seed-time, not to be repeated. It was only in the present that Christ's words of life, fresh from his human lips, could be spoken; that his acts of personal kindness and compassion could be performed; that his example, destined to be so infinitely fruitful, could be set forth. And therefore he prized that present, the day allotted to him, and not in feverish haste, but in all the calmness of spiritual strength, he took possession of it, and used it for his Father's glory. "The night cometh, when no man can work." Taken by themselves, these words only express a simple fact which no one would think of proving or dream of denying. Life comes but once to each of us, and however we may spend it or misspend it, no portion of it will return to be spent over again. We cannot prolong it at will, or persuade it to linger. Relentlessly it moves like the hand of a clock or the shadow on the sun-dial. All our earthly activities, our duties, our charities, our services in the cause of God and man, must needs be included in it. When the night cometh they must cease. Every man who has any earnestness of purpose about him has felt the stimulus of such thoughts as these. Whatever his pursuits may be, whether the objects he takes an interest in are of a lower or higher kind, his heart often whispers to itself, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do," etc. Nay, further, many an idler has been rebuked into activity, and many a dreamer wakened up out of his useless reveries, just by the thought fastening itself upon him that he is allowing life, with all its opportunities, to slip away, and that it will never return. Now, if you have entered on the life of Christ's disciples, does this motive lose its force? Surely not. You have learned from your Master the true worth and importance of life, and you have been taught to spend it under the eye of "the Father who, without respect of persons, judgeth according to every man's work." Whatever be your station or sphere, this is the case. Here and now, within the narrow limits of the present, you have your opportunities of service allotted to you, your only sphere for "works of faith and labors of love." And these opportunities, if wasted or let slip, can never be recalled. Why should they be lost? These words contain a motive which no Christian can afford to lose. Does any one say, "It does not apply to me or to the multitudes who are already tasked to the uttermost by the necessary cares of life and the stern demands of business"? Ah! God is not like a hard master, reaping where he has not sown, and gathering where he has not strawed. If your necessary toil is performed in a Christian spirit, in the spirit of a faithful servant, it will be accepted as a free-will offering. Even to the slaves at Colosse the Apostle Paul says, "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not to men Ye serve the Lord Christ." Yet surely in the busiest life there is room for deeds of kindness and words of sympathy, for giving the cup of cold water, for proffering the timely advice, for doing many things for Christ's sake which no man can require at your hands. But especially those whose position in the world is independent, and who have much freedom of choice as to how they shall employ, their time, should lay these words to heart. It is you who are most of all tempted to lead a desultory life. Society, as it is called, seems to expect it of you. People suppose that you must have time for every trifling engagement, and it is so much easier to let each day be passively surrendered in this way than to redeem the time for any definite purpose. But how should this one thought, "the night cometh," help you resolutely to resist or break through such petty distractions! It is but a portion, alter all, of this brief life that you can call your working day. Necessary cares, needful rest, and relaxation must have their share. Sickness may at any time swallow up you know not how much of the remainder. See that you consecrate your yet unbroken daylight to the service of God and man. You have every motive to do so, and you may well be stimulated and encouraged by the example of many around you; but oh, how affecting the thought that your Master, when he dwelt on earth, said to his disciples, "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work"! - G.B. Parallel Verses KJV: I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. |
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