Mark 3:13-21 And he goes up into a mountain, and calls to him whom he would: and they came to him.… A superhuman worker will have his own superhuman methods. I. CHRIST'S METHODS. No man would have begun in such a way. 1. He wrote nothing. Plato has left us the description of his "Ideal Republic" — so men have always done; but the King of the only enduring kingdom wrote only once — in the sand, and not on parchment. Seneca penned his book on Morals for men to ponder; but the Christ who knew no sin, and whose precepts have been planted in every Christian civilization, simply spoke the precepts which in after years others should write down. The heavenly worker wrought in an unearthly way. 2. He chose unlettered men. When Carlyle speaks and Emerson ponders, the world puts its hand to its ear to catch even the lowest spoken truths; but it may be that some fisherman coasting the shore of Solway Firth, or some sower of seed on the fields of Concord, shall stand higher in God's view than even the rugged Scotchman and the honoured sage of America. The Saviour of mankind, the Revolutionist of the ages, the Son of the Highest committed Himself, His power, His teachings, to twelve plain and hitherto unhonoured men, all of them common people, and all of them unlearned. 3. The character of the twelve. Judged from a human point of view, they were certainly unpromising men — slow of heart, dull of understanding, weak in action, and one false at heart. But time has shown that Christ made no mistake. By so much as His apostles' characters were incomplete, and in so far as the Christian faith has ruled in the earth, even so His mysterious choice is vindicated beyond cavil. Upon them He stamped His own greatness. II. THE PLAN INVOLVED IN CHRIST'S METHODS. Nothing Divine is ever done by chance. (G. R. Leavitt.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him.WEB: He went up into the mountain, and called to himself those whom he wanted, and they went to him. |
    |