---

Attention is directed to the remarkable fact that St. Peter spoke to AEneas as if the Lord Jesus were actually present in the room; and that he was present is proved by the healing which followed upon the invoking of his power: "Jesus Christ maketh thee whole!" The words must have sounded very strangely to those who first heard them. They sound strangely to us. Jesus Christ was not there. No one saw him. No calming look from Jesus quieted the sufferer. No hand of Jesus touched and quickened into life the sickly man. No voice of Jesus spoke the words of healing power, The Jesus of Bethesda, and Nain, and Capernaum, and Bethany was not there. Some might have said, "Jesus is dead," and might tell how they saw him die. And if others urged that nevertheless he lived, they might say, "Ah! yes; lives far away in heaven, among the angels." They had seen him go up, and a white cloud sailed across and hid him from view; and since that day no human eye had looked into his face or seen the print of his feet. To many of us one of the gravest difficulties is to reconcile the apparent contradiction - Jesus is in the glory; Jesus is here. Jesus sits on the throne; Jesus dwells in the open, trusting heart. And our difficulty is not met by urging that Jesus himself is in the glory, but his influence is here, his power is here, his Spirit is here; for we do not want to know about his influence, but about his personal presence, which carries and assures his influence. What we find it so hard to realize is that the only true being is spiritual being. Christ is a spiritual being; we are spiritual beings; so we can be really together, though the material thing space may seem to be a woeful divider. Two spirits can come together; and if one spirit be weak, dependent, suffering, and the other strong, loving, and glorious, there may be wondrous and gracious intercommunions, and Jesus may make palsied AEneas whole. The striking thing in our text is the declaration that Jesus was actually there, and there to heal. Then we inquire -

I. WHAT ARE THE EYES THAT CAN SEE SUCH A PRESENT CHRIST? For it is quite proper to say that both St. Peter and AEneas saw Jesus there. We so highly value the use of our bodily eyes that we fail to realize our soul-eyes. There are some striking instances in Scripture of the weakness of our bodily vision, and of our power to see what the eye never looks on; e.g. Sodomites wearying themselves to find the door; the prophet's servant seeing the guardian angels all round the mountains; so Saul saw nothing, and yet everything, when smitten down at Damascus. See also the holden eyes of the disciples on the way to Emmaus. This eye of the spirit, that brings Jesus near, we call faith. It is to the soul what the eye is to the body. It strains through the spiritual atmosphere, and makes real and clear spiritual objects. And the present Christ, so beheld, becomes to us a comfort and a joy unspeakable; telling as a gracious elevator on our whole daily life, sanctifying everything with the conviction, Christ is with me here.

II. WHAT IS THE CONDITION WHICH CAN FEEL CHRIST'S PRESENCE? Need and suffering, especially spiritual need and spiritual suffering, are the great quickeners of sensibility. The soul that needeth Christ soon makes the joyous discovery that Christ needeth the soul, and has already come seeking it. Sin-sick souls want the Physician nigh, and it is still the great gospel to men that we may stand before them and open and quicken their spiritual vision as we say, "Look! Jesus Christ maketh thee whole!" - R.T.

---

---

KJV: And Peter said unto him, AEneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed. And he arose immediately.

WEB: Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed!" Immediately he arose.